BP (LON: BP) became the latest oil and gas supermajor to report record earnings for 2022, more than doubling its profit last year as oil and gas prices surged.
BP reported on Tuesday an underlying replacement cost profit - its closest metric to net profit - of $27.65 billion for 2022, more than doubled from the previous year's earnings of $12.8 billion.
The UK supermajor beat its previous earnings record - set in 2008 when oil prices hit an all-time high - and joined the other supermajors which have also reported record earnings over the past week.
Following the strong set of results and surplus cash flow, BP raised its dividend per ordinary share for the fourth quarter by 10%, which represents 21% growth from the fourth quarter of 2021. The supermajor also announced a further $2.75 billion in share buybacks, bringing total announced share repurchases from 2022 surplus cash flow to $11.25 billion.
Last year, BP also cut its net debt by $9.2 billion over the year, to $21.4 billion - the lowest debt for over nine years.
Following the results announcement, shares in BP jumped by 4% at opening in London.
"It's clearer than ever after the past three years that the world wants and needs energy that is secure and affordable as well as lower carbon - all three together, what's known as the energy trilemma," BP's chief executive Bernard Looney said in a statement.
"To tackle that, action is needed to accelerate the transition. And - at the same time - action is needed to make sure that the transition is orderly, so that affordable energy keeps flowing where it's needed today," the executive added.
BP is the latest supermajor to report the highest-ever annual earnings, following smashing profits at Chevron, Exxon, and Shell. TotalEnergies is the last of the biggest of Big Oil to report earnings, on Wednesday, February 8.
The record profits at the majors already drew criticism from the White House, which slammed Exxon's record earnings for 2022 as "outrageous," while calls for more windfall taxes on oil companies have intensified.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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