The oil company BP benefited from the high fuel and gas prices in the first few months of this year. If one calculates out special effects, the Londoners have made a profit of almost six billion euros in the first quarter, according to their own statements. That’s more than double what it was in the same period last year and also more than stock market analysts had expected. Nevertheless, BP reports a loss of the equivalent of a good 19 billion euros for the first quarter, after a solid profit in the same period last year. That’s because Londoners have written off their minority stake in Russian oil company Rosneft as they plan to exit the country.
BP is one of the largest energy companies in the world: the British produce oil and gas internationally, they process it in refineries into petrol and diesel, heating oil or kerosene, here in Gelsenkirchen and Lingen in Emsland. And they operate gas stations, in Germany under the Aral brand. Fuel has become significantly more expensive in Europe in recent weeks, as Russia has so far been a major exporter of oil and diesel. After Moscow’s attack on Ukraine, many states and companies want to boycott Russian oil; the EU is discussing a corresponding embargo. BP boss Bernard Looney said on Tuesday that all of his company’s refineries were now free of crude oil from Russia.
Uniper also reports a high loss
The Düsseldorf-based energy group Uniper also reports a high loss of 3.1 billion euros for the first quarter. On the one hand, the former Eon subsidiary has written off its loan to the company Nord Stream 2, since this new pipeline from Russia to Germany will not go into operation in the foreseeable future. Uniper has also revised down the value of a majority stake in gas and coal-fired power plants in Russia; the Düsseldorf-based company is trying to sell the local subsidiary called Unipro. On the other hand, Uniper took less gas from its own storage facilities from January to March than before. The company is hoping for higher sales profits in the coming months, but according to its own statements it also wants to contribute to security of supply.
Uniper has so far imported a lot of gas from Russia, burned the fuel in its own power plants, but also sold it to municipal utilities or industrial companies. In the future, the group does not want to conclude any new supply contracts with Russia. Uniper has lost a good 40 percent of its value on the stock exchange since the beginning of this year.