BP enjoys bumper profits in oil trading boom

This article appeared as part of the Daily Sensemaker newsletter – one story a day to make sense of the world. To receive it in your inbox, featuring content exclusive to the newsletter, sign up for free here.

BP’s quarterly profits have more than doubled to $3.2bn on the back of high crude prices caused by the Iran war. The company credited the windfall to “exceptional oil trading”. The Competition and Markets Authority is monitoring whether petrol retailers have profiteered from oil price spikes, but so far this has not happened. Average UK pump prices have only increased by 20% since the start of the war, compared to the 58% jump in the cost of crude. What BP appears to have benefited from are swings in oil prices, which have seesawed in response to developments in the Gulf. Financial institutions trading in stocks have reaped similar rewards.