Analyst Views: What’s your breakdown of BP’s fourth-quarter results?
LUCAS HERMANN | DEUTSCHE BANK
In the upstream division, numbers were around $200m shy of our expectations at $3.9bn. The quarterly dividend of 9.5 cents per share, up from 9 cents, was expected. The company forecasts a production decline in 2014 but this was also expected due to the loss of a concession deal in Abu Dhabi.
NEILL MORTON | INVESTEC
As the only one of the three UK oil majors not to warn on profits and/or guidance, BP looks like the undisputed champion in the fourth quarter. But this should not ignore a weak set of results. On largely unchanged oil prices, net income fell 24 per cent compared to the third quarter and 29 per cent year-on-year.
RICHARD GRIFFITH | CANACCORD GENUITY
BP has maintained its cash flow target of $30bn-$31bn for 2014, up from $21.1bn in 2013, which gives the market some clear quarterly milestones. New upstream projects and the full benefit of the Whiting refinery upgrade [in the US] are core to BP delivering that.