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# BP p.l.c. (NYSE: BP) — Company narrative, second quarter 2026 bp reports in US dollars, so every amount below is in US dollars as the company reports it; no currency conversion was needed. bp is a foreign private issuer: its annual report is the Form 20-F, and it files quarterly results on Form 6-K. One American Depositary Share (ADS) represents six ordinary shares. bp uses several non-IFRS measures, chiefly "underlying replacement cost (RC) profit". This strips out inventory holding gains and losses and items the company classifies as "adjusting" (impairments, disposal gains and losses, fair value accounting effects and similar). Where a figure is non-IFRS, the text says so. The IFRS figure is profit attributable to bp shareholders. --- ## Business *Source: bp Annual Report and Form 20-F 2025 (fiscal year ended 31 December 2025), accession 0000313807-26-000006, filed 6 March 2026.* bp is an integrated energy company. It explores for and produces oil and natural gas, and it refines crude oil and trades oil, gas, LNG and power. It also sells fuels, lubricants and convenience goods to retail, aviation and business customers around the world. Group sales and other operating revenues were $189.3 billion in 2025 ($189.2 billion in 2024). The customer-facing and refining side of the business generates most of that revenue: the customers & products segment recorded $148.8 billion of segment revenue, which includes sales to other bp segments. Most of the profit comes from producing hydrocarbons, from refining and trading margins, and from fuel and convenience retailing. At end-2025 bp operated in 61 countries with 93,700 employees. It produced 2.3 million barrels of oil equivalent a day (2,312 mboe/d) and held 6,191 million boe of proved reserves, counting subsidiaries and equity-accounted entities together. bp reports three operating segments plus a corporate segment: - **Gas & low carbon energy.** Upstream regions that mainly produce natural gas, plus gas and LNG trading and the Archaea Energy US biogas (renewable natural gas) business. The low carbon side covers solar (Lightsource bp), offshore wind, hydrogen, carbon capture and storage, and power trading. bp sold its US onshore wind business to LS Power in December 2025. In 2025 the segment produced 785 mboe/d and earned underlying RC profit before interest and tax of $5.4 billion (2024 $6.8 billion). - **Oil production & operations.** Upstream regions that mainly produce crude oil, including bpx energy, bp's US onshore business in the Permian and Eagle Ford. The segment produced 1,527 mboe/d in 2025 and earned underlying RC profit before interest and tax of $9.4 billion (2024 $11.9 billion). Part of its production comes through equity-accounted entities, which contributed 347 mboe/d of the 2025 total. These operate in Angola (Azule Energy, bp's 50:50 joint venture with Eni), Argentina, Bolivia, Mexico and Norway. - **Customers & products.** "Customers" is convenience and retail fuels, including TravelCenters of America, Thorntons and the ampm and Aral brands. It also includes EV charging (bp pulse), Castrol lubricants, air bp aviation fuel, B2B sales, midstream and bp bioenergy (Brazilian sugarcane ethanol). "Products" is refining and oil trading. 2025 underlying RC profit before interest and tax was $5.3 billion (2024 $2.5 billion): customers $3.8 billion, of which Castrol $1.0 billion, and products $1.5 billion. Refinery throughput averaged 1,440 mb/d. - **Other businesses & corporate.** Technology, bp ventures, shipping, corporate functions and the residual costs of the Gulf of America oil spill. Its 2025 underlying RC loss before interest and tax was $0.6 billion. **Strategy and financial frame.** In February 2025 bp reset its strategy around three aims: growing upstream oil and gas, focusing the downstream, and investing "with discipline" in the energy transition. It set four primary targets for 2027: - adjusted free cash flow growth of more than 20% a year from 2024 to 2027, measured on a price-adjusted basis; - net debt of $14–18 billion by end-2027; - structural cost reductions of $5.5–6.5 billion by end-2027 versus 2023, raised from $4–5 billion after the Castrol decision; - return on average capital employed above 16% in 2027. bp also runs a $20 billion disposal programme, and it describes the dividend as its first capital-allocation priority, expected to rise by at least 4% a year per share. At its fourth-quarter 2025 results in February 2026 the board suspended share buybacks and directed all excess cash to the balance sheet. bp guided 2026 capital expenditure to $13.0–13.5 billion (2025: $14.5 billion). **Portfolio reshaping in 2025 and early 2026.** These are the moves that explain the shape of the business today: - **Castrol.** On 24 December 2025 bp agreed to sell a 65% shareholding in Castrol to Stonepeak, keeping 35% through a holding in a newly incorporated entity. bp estimates cash proceeds at $6 billion and expects completion by end-2026, subject to regulatory approvals. Stonepeak's shares carry preferred distributions, so bp does not expect income or dividends from its retained stake in the short to medium term. About $1.6 billion of cumulative foreign-exchange losses held in reserves are expected to pass through the income statement at completion. - **Offshore wind.** On 1 August 2025 bp combined its offshore wind business with JERA's in JERA Nex bp, a 50:50 joint venture. - **Completed retail and midstream sales.** bp sold its Netherlands mobility, convenience and bp pulse businesses to Catom BV, completing on 1 December 2025. It sold its non-controlling interests in Permian and Eagle Ford midstream assets to Sixth Street for $1.5 billion. It also sold a non-controlling interest in the subsidiary that holds its 12% of the TANAP gas pipeline for $1.0 billion. - **Culzean.** bp's 32% non-operated stake in the Culzean gas field (UK North Sea) went to NEO Next in December 2025. - **Announced exits.** bp announced plans to sell the Gelsenkirchen refinery in Germany and its Austrian retail business. - **Lightsource bp.** In February 2025 bp announced it would bring a strategic partner into Lightsource bp. Most of the Lightsource bp assets held for sale at year-end were sold in February 2026. **Upstream growth pipeline.** bp started up seven major projects in 2025, including: - GTA Phase 1 LNG offshore Mauritania and Senegal, which shipped 19 cargoes in 2025; - Cypre in Trinidad; - Murlach in the UK North Sea; - the Argos Southwest Extension and Atlantis Drill Center 1 expansion in the Gulf of America. It also made 12 discoveries, among them Bumerangue in Brazil's Santos Basin, its largest in 25 years. bp took final investment decisions on Tiber-Guadalupe (Gulf of America, 80,000 b/d capacity, start-up expected 2030), Shah Deniz Compression ($2.9 billion), Ginger (Trinidad) and others. Its Kirkuk redevelopment contract in Iraq took effect in October 2025 with an agreed baseline of 328,000 b/d. The proved reserves replacement ratio was 90%, against an average of about 50% in the previous two years. --- ## Risk factors *Source: Form 20-F 2025, accession 0000313807-26-000006, "Principal risks and uncertainties (Risk factors)". In 2025 the board cut its principal-risk list from 20 to 16. The interim report for the half year says no material changes to these risks are expected for the rest of 2026.* - **Commodity prices and refining margins.** Earnings, cash flow and asset values move with oil, gas and refined-product prices. Those prices are driven by OPEC+, sanctions, tariffs and geopolitical events. Long periods of low prices can force impairments and cuts to investment. Higher prices do not always lift returns because of fiscal regimes and cost inflation, and refining profit swings with regional supply and demand. - **Access to and production of hydrocarbons.** bp's value depends on finding, developing and reliably producing resources. Drilling surprises, outages, extreme weather and partner misalignment can delay production and limit reserve replacement. The risk is higher in politically sensitive jurisdictions and volatile fiscal regimes. - **Major project delivery.** Large capital projects are often run through joint ventures or third parties, which limits bp's control. They face subsurface uncertainty, supply-chain and permitting delays and inflation. A failure can mean cost overruns, impairments or loss of licence to operate. - **Geopolitics.** Operations in many countries expose bp to sanctions, trade-route restrictions, expropriation, conflict and changes in tax and regulation. Energy nationalism, bloc politics and divergent extraterritorial rules (sanctions, data, carbon border mechanisms) add compliance complexity and can block market access. bp still holds its interest in Rosneft. It cannot sell the shares on the Moscow Stock Exchange and carries them at a fair value of zero. - **Liquidity and financial resilience.** A liquidity shock or credit-rating downgrade could raise financing costs and force asset sales at less than full value. bp is also exposed to counterparty credit, to delays in collecting divestment proceeds, and to divestments that do not complete as planned. - **Partners and third parties.** bp has limited control over the safety, compliance and financial standards of non-operated joint ventures, contractors and suppliers. Yet it may still be pursued by regulators and claimants after an incident. - **Digital, cyber and data.** Ransomware, nation-state and insider attacks on bp's systems or those of its suppliers could disrupt operations and trading, compromise data, and bring fines. The rapid spread of generative and agentic AI is both an opportunity and a governance risk. - **Climate change and the energy transition.** Policy, regulation, technology, customer preferences and investor sentiment could reduce demand for bp's products and raise compliance costs. They could also limit access to capital and affect the price assumptions used to test asset values and the useful lives of assets. - **Competitiveness, and talent and leadership.** bp must keep its strategy, costs, technology and portfolio competitive. Weak execution or poorly communicated strategy erodes investor confidence. Change programmes and the competition for skilled people risk loss of capability. - **Process safety, personal safety and environment.** bp works in high-hazard settings such as drilling, offshore production, pipelines, marine transport and refining. Major incidents can cause deaths, spills, regulatory penalties and loss of licence to operate. Four people died working in bp's US retail business in 2025. - **Security and product quality.** Terrorism, sabotage, piracy, kidnapping and cyber-enabled physical attacks threaten people and assets such as pipelines and platforms. Separately, contamination or specification failures in fuels, lubricants or biofuels could lead to recalls and liability. - **Legal, regulatory and ethical compliance.** Bribery, sanctions, competition or data-privacy breaches could bring penalties. Royalties and taxes on hydrocarbon activities are high and governments can change them. One example is the UK Energy Profits Levy, which lifts the headline tax rate on bp's North Sea profits to 78% and was extended to 31 March 2030. bp also says the Gulf of America oil spill may expose it to higher fines for any future breaches. - **Trading, and reporting integrity.** bp runs large physical and financial trading operations, which carry market, credit, conduct and rogue-trader risk. Failures in financial, reserves or sustainability reporting could lead to regulatory action and liability. --- ## Management's discussion of 2025 *Source: Form 20-F 2025, accession 0000313807-26-000006, "Group performance" and segment reviews.* 2025 was a year of weak reported earnings but steady operations. Profit attributable to bp shareholders was just $55 million ($0.1 billion; 2024 $0.4 billion). Basic earnings were 0.35 cents per ordinary share and $0.02 per ADS; diluted earnings were 0.34 cents per ordinary share and $0.02 per ADS. The main cause of the low profit was $5.9 billion of net pre-tax adjusting items. These included $5.4 billion of net impairments, mainly of Lightsource bp and Archaea Energy. A further $1.4 billion of net impairments, mostly Archaea and offshore wind, ran through equity-accounted earnings. Fair value accounting effects were a $2.2 billion gain. The effective tax rate was 83%, because impairments got limited tax relief. Excluding those items, underlying RC profit (non-IFRS) was $7.5 billion, down from $8.9 billion in 2024. bp attributes the fall to lower liquids prices realized and a weaker gas marketing and trading result, partly offset by a much stronger customers & products segment. The oil trading contribution was broadly flat. Brent averaged about $69/bbl, against $81 in 2024. bp's refining indicator margin rose to $12.8/bbl from $10.7. The underlying effective tax rate was 42%. By segment: - Gas & low carbon energy's underlying result fell because of the late-2024 divestments in Egypt and Trinidad, weaker gas marketing and trading, and higher depreciation. - Oil production & operations' underlying result fell on lower liquids realizations ($60.64/bbl vs $69.85), even though production rose 3.8%, driven by bpx energy. - Customers & products more than doubled its underlying result. Refining availability reached a record 96.3% with no repeat of the 2024 Whiting refinery power outage, and realized margins were higher. Customers posted its best underlying result since 2019, helped by structural cost cuts, and Castrol earnings grew more than 15%. Reported group production fell 2% to 2,312 mboe/d, mainly because of the 2024 Egypt and Trinidad disposals and base decline. Operating cash flow was $24.5 billion (2024 $27.3 billion). It was held back by a $4.8 billion working-capital outflow, which included $1.1 billion of Gulf of America oil spill payments. Capital expenditure fell to $14.5 billion from $16.2 billion. Divestment and other proceeds were $5.3 billion. Dividends and buybacks announced for 2025 came to about 30% of operating cash flow. During the year bp bought back 836 million shares for $4.5 billion and paid $5.1 billion of dividends (32.640 cents per share paid). Finance debt fell to $58.0 billion from $59.5 billion, and net debt (non-IFRS) fell to $22.2 billion from $23.0 billion, giving gearing of 23.1%. Counting hybrid bonds, leases and Gulf of America settlement liabilities as well, the total was $57.8 billion. Cumulative structural cost reductions since 2023 reached $2.8 billion. **2026 guidance as given in the 20-F:** - reported upstream production slightly lower, with underlying production broadly flat; - capital expenditure of $13–13.5 billion; - divestment and other proceeds of $9–10 billion, including about $6 billion from Castrol, weighted to the second half; - Gulf of America oil spill payments of about $1.6 billion pre-tax; - an underlying effective tax rate of about 40%. **Leadership.** Murray Auchincloss stepped down as chief executive in December 2025, and Carol Howle served as interim CEO. Meg O'Neill was appointed chief executive and joined on 1 April 2026. Albert Manifold, appointed chair in 2025, signed the 2025 annual report as chair. Since then, according to bp's second-quarter 2026 results announcement (Form 6-K, accession 0001654954-26-007201), Carol Howle stepped down as an executive director and interim CEO on 31 March 2026, and Melody Meyer, Karen Richardson and Simon Henry stepped down as non-executive directors on 23 April 2026. On 26 May 2026 Albert Manifold ceased to serve as a non-executive director and chair, and Ian Tyler was appointed interim chair. --- ## Current quarter: second quarter 2026 (three months to 30 June 2026) *Source: bp Form 6-K for the period ended 30 June 2026, accession 0000313807-26-000016, filed 4 August 2026, which contains the interim management's discussion and condensed financial statements. The same day's stock exchange announcement, Form 6-K accession 0001654954-26-007201, adds the quarter-on-quarter net debt and working-capital commentary cited below.* **A much stronger quarter, set against market disruption.** The second quarter came during what CEO Meg O'Neill called "one of the most disrupted periods in the global energy market". bp says geopolitical instability in the Middle East brought supply disruptions in the region and price volatility. Brent averaged $103.85/bbl, against $67.88 a year earlier. bp's refining indicator margin averaged $29.6/bbl, against $11.9. Against that backdrop: - **Revenue.** Sales and other operating revenues were $69.1 billion, up from $46.6 billion. - **Profit.** Profit attributable to bp shareholders was $3.9 billion ($3,911 million), up from $1.6 billion in 2Q 2025 and broadly level with $3.8 billion in 1Q 2026. Basic earnings were 24.77 cents per ordinary share and $1.49 per ADS; diluted earnings were 24.54 cents per ordinary share and $1.47 per ADS. - **Underlying profit.** Underlying RC profit (non-IFRS) was $5.7 billion ($5,732 million), or $2.22 per ADS, against $2.4 billion a year earlier and $3.2 billion in the first quarter. - **First half.** Profit attributable was $7.8 billion and underlying RC profit $8.9 billion, against $2.3 billion and $3.7 billion in the first half of 2025. bp gives these drivers for the move from the first quarter: higher liquids and gas realizations, including the effect of price lags; stronger realized refining margins; and a better customers result. Higher exploration write-offs partly offset them. Against the second quarter of 2025, the gain came mainly from much higher realized refining margins, higher liquids realizations and a much higher oil trading contribution. Reported profit came in below underlying profit because of two items, both net of tax: - $0.7 billion of inventory holding losses; - a $1.1 billion net adverse impact from adjusting items. These included $0.8 billion of post-tax net impairments, with the largest share in gas & low carbon energy's transition businesses, and $1.0 billion of favourable pre-tax fair value accounting effects. The effective tax rate was 45%; the underlying rate was 34%, lower than a year earlier because of the geographical mix of profits. **Segments.** Underlying RC profit before interest and tax (non-IFRS) was: - **Gas & low carbon energy: $2.1 billion** (2Q 2025 $1.5 billion; 1Q 2026 $1.3 billion). Realizations were higher, including price lags and moves in non-Henry Hub gas markers, and depreciation was lower. Production was 765 mboe/d. - **Oil production & operations: $3.6 billion** (2Q 2025 $2.3 billion; 1Q 2026 $2.0 billion). Liquids realizations rose to $84.10/bbl from $59.74, and income from equity-accounted entities was higher. Exploration write-offs of $478 million partly offset this; bp says they were mainly due to the sale of the Bay du Nord interest in Canada. Reported production fell 5.4% to 1,436 mboe/d. Underlying production rose 1.8% on bpx energy and the ramp-up of major projects, partly offset by seasonal maintenance. - **Customers & products: $5.0 billion** (2Q 2025 $1.5 billion; 1Q 2026 $3.2 billion). Customers earned $1.8 billion, of which Castrol $0.4 billion, on stronger fuels and midstream performance. Products earned $3.2 billion, on much higher realized refining margins, lower turnaround activity and a much higher oil trading contribution. A third-party event at the Whiting refinery in April partly offset the products gain. - **Other businesses & corporate:** underlying loss of $0.3 billion. **Operations slipped.** Upstream production was 2,201 mboe/d, against 2,300 a year earlier. bp-operated upstream plant reliability fell to 92.4% (96.8% in 2Q 2025; 95.7% in 1Q 2026), and refining availability fell to 94.7% (96.4%). Tier 1 and tier 2 process safety events rose to 18, from 5 a year earlier. The CEO attributed the weaker operating performance partly to planned maintenance and the conflict in the Middle East: "a reminder that we have more to do". **Cash and balance sheet.** - **Cash flow.** Operating cash flow was $10.9 billion (2Q 2025 $6.3 billion), after a $1.0 billion adjusted working-capital build. That was about $8.0 billion more than in the first quarter. Capital expenditure was $3.1 billion and divestment proceeds $0.6 billion. - **Debt.** Net debt (non-IFRS) fell to $22.3 billion from $25.3 billion at the end of the first quarter, and gearing was 22.6%. That was after paying $2.9 billion to redeem €2.5 billion of perpetual hybrid bonds in June and $1.1 billion of Gulf of America settlement payments. Finance debt was $58.3 billion. - **Combined liabilities.** Net debt, hybrid bonds and securities, leases and Gulf of America settlement liabilities together fell by $6.9 billion in the quarter. Remaining Gulf of America oil spill payables and provisions were $5.9 billion, down from $7.3 billion at end-2025. - **Inventories** rose to $31.0 billion from $22.5 billion at end-2025. - **Impairment testing.** bp raised the 2026 Brent assumption it uses for value-in-use impairment tests to $80/bbl from $70, and cut Henry Hub to $3.34/mmBtu from $3.80. This assumes the Middle East supply disruption resolves before year-end, and bp says it caused no material impairment or reversal. - **Shareholder returns.** The cash flow statement shows no share repurchases in the quarter. The board declared a second-quarter dividend of 8.660 cents per ordinary share, up 4% from 8.320 cents. That equals $0.5196 per ADS, payable 18 September 2026. - **Cost reductions.** Structural cost reductions since 2023 reached $3.5 billion, including $0.8 billion in the first half of 2026. **New CEO's priorities and reorganization.** In her first full quarter, Meg O'Neill said bp's recent performance had "not met our own expectations, let alone those of our shareholders". She cited inconsistent delivery, too much value written off, and costs and liabilities that are not resilient at low prices. She set five priorities: 1. strengthen the balance sheet; 2. simplify the portfolio "based on value, not sentiment nor history"; 3. invest with greater capital discipline; 4. drive operational excellence and cost efficiency; 5. hardwire accountability. On 9 June 2026 bp announced a move to an Upstream and Downstream organization supported by its trading business. Reported segments stay unchanged until 31 December 2026, and the new reporting segments take effect from 1 January 2027. **Portfolio and project actions during the quarter.** - **Bab Gas Cap.** In June bp signed a concession agreement with ADNOC and partners to develop Abu Dhabi's Bab Gas Cap, taking a 10% interest. The concession is expected to produce up to 1.5 billion cubic feet a day. - **Greater PAJ.** In June bp took a final investment decision on the Greater PAJ oil development in Angola (Azule Energy operated). It is expected to add about 95,000 boe/d gross at peak. - **Thunder Horse.** In May bp, as operator, took a final investment decision on the Thunder Horse subsea pump in the Gulf of America, with first oil planned for 2028. - **ACG.** bp began the first commercial non-associated gas production on Azerbaijan's Azeri–Chirag–Gunashli field. - **Agreements and discoveries.** bp signed a 10-year LNG supply deal with KOGAS (0.7 million tonnes a year from 2028) and three production-sharing contracts in Indonesia. It also confirmed the Nidoco N-2 gas discovery in Egypt and the Capricornus-1A oil appraisal result offshore Namibia. - **Pan American Energy.** In June, after regulatory approval, bp completed the sale of a 10% shareholding in Pan American Energy Group, cutting its stake from 50% to 40%. No price was disclosed. - **Browse.** bp agreed to sell a 5% interest in the Browse project in Western Australia to GS Energy, keeping a 39.33% working interest. No price was disclosed. **Guidance given with the results (4 August 2026).** - **Production.** 2026 reported upstream production of 2,180–2,270 mboe/d (2025: 2,312). This reflects Middle East disruption, the Culzean sale and the reduced Latin America interest; underlying production is broadly flat. - **Capital expenditure** raised to $13.5–14.0 billion, reflecting a decision to delay asset farm-downs to capture better value. - **Divestment and other proceeds** cut to $8–9 billion, still including about $6 billion from Castrol. - **Depreciation, depletion and amortization** of $17.0–17.5 billion. - **Underlying effective tax rate** of 35–40%. - **Refining throughput** of 1,360–1,410 mb/d after the Gelsenkirchen sale. - **Third-quarter outlook.** bp expected a significantly lower customers result, as higher base-oil costs feed through to Castrol, and about $1 billion more in income taxes paid than in the second quarter. It also said it would repay $1.0 billion of perpetual subordinated hybrid securities. - **Refining rule of thumb.** After the Gelsenkirchen sale, a $1/bbl change in bp's refining indicator margin is now worth about $450 million of underlying pre-tax profit, down from $550 million. --- ## Subsequent events *Events after 30 June 2026, as disclosed in the half-year Form 6-K (accession 0000313807-26-000016, approved by the board on 3 August 2026) and in later 6-K filings. The interim financial statements contain no separate subsequent-events note. Where no price is given below, the filing did not disclose one.* **Divestments and portfolio moves (July–August 2026):** - **Gelsenkirchen refinery (Germany): sale completed 31 July 2026.** The buyer is Klesch Group. bp agreed the sale on 18 March 2026 and sold its 100% interest in the refinery and related assets. At 30 June the assets held for sale were carried at $549 million, with associated liabilities of $1,260 million. Working capital, including inventory, transfers to the buyer at completion. No price was disclosed. - **Austria retail: agreed in July.** bp agreed to sell its Austria mobility & convenience and bp pulse businesses to volenergy AG. Completion is expected by end-2026, subject to regulatory approvals. No price was disclosed. - **Bay du Nord (Canada): agreed in July.** bp agreed to sell its non-operated interest in the Bay du Nord project offshore Newfoundland and Labrador to Equinor, subject to third-party approvals. No price was disclosed. The sale drove the second quarter's exploration write-offs. - **Kirkuk (Iraq): terms agreed in July.** ConocoPhillips is to acquire a 42% interest in BP Energy Company of Kirkuk Limited, and Türkiye Petrolleri (TPAO) a further 15%, subject to third-party approvals. No price was disclosed. - **bp Ventures: agreed in July.** bp agreed to sell the majority of the direct investments held in bp Ventures, subject to regulatory and contractual approvals, and intends to close the unit. No price was disclosed. - **UK North Sea business: sale process launched in July.** - **Archaea Energy (US biogas): sale process launched 4 August 2026.** - **BTC pipeline.** From 1 July 2026 operatorship of the Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan oil export pipeline passed from bp to SOCAR Midstream Operations. - **Atlantis.** In July bp started up the Atlantis Major Facility Expansion in the Gulf of America, the eighth of 10 major projects due online in 2025–2027. - **Castrol: still pending.** The sale of 65% of Castrol to Stonepeak, with about $6 billion of estimated cash proceeds, remained subject to regulatory approvals at 30 June, with completion expected by end-2026. **Financing:** - **Hybrid redemption.** bp redeemed $1.0 billion of perpetual subordinated hybrid securities on 30 September 2026. It expected about $12.0 billion of hybrid bonds and securities to remain at the end of the third quarter, down from $13.0 billion at 30 June. **Third-quarter trading statement (13 October 2026, accession 0001654954-26-008895):** - **Net debt.** bp expected net debt at 30 September 2026 of $13.5–14.5 billion, down from $22.3 billion at 30 June. It expected the total of net debt, hybrid bonds, leases and Gulf of America settlement liabilities to fall by about $9.0–10.0 billion in the quarter. - **Impairments.** Third-quarter results are expected to include $3.0–4.5 billion of post-tax impairments, primarily in the transition businesses of gas & low carbon energy. These are excluded from underlying RC profit. - **Trading conditions.** Brent averaged $96.99/bbl in the third quarter, down from $103.85. bp's refining indicator margin averaged $46.7/bbl, up from $29.6, and bp expected stronger realized refining margins to add $1.9–2.1 billion. It expected a significantly lower customers result and a significantly higher gas marketing and trading result. - **Production and tax.** Reported upstream production is expected at 2,190–2,240 mboe/d and the underlying effective tax rate at about 30%. - **Upcoming dates.** Third-quarter results are scheduled for 30 October 2026, and a strategy and outlook update for 15 December 2026 in New York. **Governance:** - **Chair.** On 2 September 2026 the board appointed Ian Tyler as Chair, effective immediately. He joined the board in April 2025 and had served as interim chair since 26 May 2026. Senior Independent Director Dame Amanda Blanc will not stand for re-election at the 2027 AGM and will leave once a successor is appointed. - **Committees.** From 1 August 2026 Ian Tyler chairs the nomination and governance committee and Tushar Morzaria is interim chair of the people and remuneration committee. - **Auditor.** On 31 July 2026 bp confirmed that, after a tender, Deloitte LLP will be reappointed as statutory auditor from the 2028 financial year, subject to shareholder approval at the 2027 AGM.