Refining profit shrinkage, BP expects Q3 debt burden to increase

On October 11th, Jinshi Data News: BP.N expects its net debt to rise in the third quarter due to weak refining business and changes in the timing of asset sales. The London-based company’s petroleum product trading was weak in the third quarter, and a decline in the profit margin of processing crude oil will reduce the company’s earnings by $400-600 million, according to a statement on Friday. The company also expects total proceeds from asset divestments in the second half of the year to be $2-3 billion, of which about $1 billion will be ‘rescheduled’ to the fourth quarter. BP’s statement has exacerbated the weakness in the oil industry in the third quarter, with ExxonMobil (XOM.N) and Shell (SHEL.N) both indicating that earnings from crude oil production and refining operations may decline. The recent weakness in the oil industry is mainly due to doubts about the strength of demand and concerns that the market will return to oversupply if OPEC+ continues to implement plans to restore idle production capacity.