BP 3rd-quarter outlook: 'dreadful'
BP stock is tanking on a dreary third-quarter appraisal by the company's CEO. Stephen Beard in tells us why it's possible for an oil giant to do poorly right now.
Sign outside of a BP service station ((Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images))
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Doug Krizner: In Europe, stocks are lower, particularly energy shares. British Petroleum is down after the company's CEO was quoted by the Financial Times saying third quarter revenue will be dreadful. How can that be with crude oil trading at $80 a barrel? Here's Stephen Beard.
Stephen Beard: BP's third-quarter revenues are "dreadful." That, says The Financial Times, is the exact word the new chief executive used to describe the company's performance.
Tony Hayward is reported to have told staff to expect a big shake-up. He apparently believes there are too many layers of management and poor communications. BP's bottom line is still suffering, largely because of its problems in the United States.
Analyst Peter Kemp says BP's refinery -- or downstream -- revenues are still being hit by the Texas City Refinery fire in 2005.
Peter Kemp: Across the whole portfolio in the U.S. -- the downstream portfolio -- they are having to introduce new methods and procedures and clean up their act.
BP has also lost money on the delay in production from new projects in the Gulf of Mexico. But the company expects revenues to improve towards the end of the year.
In London, this is Stephen Beard for Marketplace.
