Improved operational performance helped BP capitalize on favorable markets in Q3 2026, lifting underlying replacement cost profit, its version of net income, 48% from the previous quarter to a record $8.5 billion, the company said in its earnings presentation October 30.
BP needs to make sure it's able to compete against similarly sized competitors and that it is competing to win, CEO Meg O’Neill said during the company’s earnings call August 4. She said the company’s integrated model is a competitive advantage but that its performance over the past few years had not met expectations.
Over the past 16 years, BP has undergone multiple restructurings of its upstream portfolio, interrupted by a shift to — and then from — one of the sector’s most ambitious energy transition strategies. Today, we chronicle the evolution of one of the industry’s most significant integrated companies.
For decades, the major integrated oil companies have been judged by their global scale, diversified business models and shareholder returns. But are their U.S. upstream businesses competitive? Today, we provide answers that may surprise many investors.
BP, which saw its earnings more than double to $3.2 billion in Q1 2026 due in large part to a spike in crude oil prices as a result of the war in Iran, said April 28 that the full effect of those higher prices on earnings and refinery margins won’t be felt until the second quarter.
Nashville is known for its music, but it’s also a fast-growing gasoline and diesel market, uniquely positioned between the Gulf Coast and Midwest. With major development projects planned, such as the new Tennessee Titans stadium, it’s getting to be a tight squeeze for the area’s fuel terminals.
There are about 8 billion boe in place in BP’s Bumerangue discovery offshore Brazil (see graphic below), the company said in its earnings report for Q4 2025. There is a wide range of uncertainty about the estimate and plans are being made for an appraisal program that will start around the end of the year, executive said. At the time the discovery was announced in August 2025, BP said it was its biggest in 25 years and that it expected well activities to begin in 2027.
Crude oil production in the U.S.’s portion of the Gulf of Mexico is poised to top 2 MMb/d for the first time in six years — and only the third time ever. New projects keep coming online. And a newcomer to the U.S. GOM, U.K.-based Harbour Energy, just announced a deal to acquire LLOG Exploration.
BP has seen significant increases in drilling productivity in 2025 and could consider adding a rig in 2026, the company said during its quarterly earnings call November 4.
Crude oil production in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico (GOM) is poised for a growth spurt through 2030 even as producers brace for a host of challenges, not least from forecasts that global oil demand will subside in the long term. But while the GOM’s supply accounts for a relatively small portion of total U.S. production, exploration and production companies (E&Ps) haven’t lost interest, in part because the Gulf offers key crude grades in high demand. In today’s RBN blog, we examine what is stoking the renewed interest in developing the GOM.
