It's been supported not surprisingly by the world wide boom in oil and gas prices. BP is well positioned to cash in. Speaking from London Chief Executive Sir John Brown argues it needs big profits to increase investment and support its massive work force. In the UK the profit and a similar one from Shell last week has sparked calls for a windfall tax on oil companies. However Sir John Brown rejects that.
Taxes always change the distribution of emphasis and investment and activity in a company.
They are both a reward and a threat and as taxes go up somewhere the opportunities have to get better and better otherwise the investment goes elsewhere. Around three-quarters of the dollars come from production, the rest from refining and retail. The Australian element is tiny. The company says it can understand consumers' anger over fuel prices particularly seeing such a high profit but points out the company's run in separate units over 100 countries with fuel sales a relatively small part of the whole picture. Nevertheless the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria's David Cumming, who, incidentally, is a former BP employee says the result will further contribute to the poor public perception of oil companies generally.