BP said its profits more than doubled in the first quarter of 2026 as the conflict involving Iran pushed up oil prices and fuelled the market volatility that delivered what the company called an “exceptional” performance from its oil trading business.
The energy group reported underlying replacement cost profit, its preferred measure of earnings, of $3.198bn for the three months to 31 March, up from $1.541bn in the previous quarter and $1.381bn a year earlier. Reported profit attributable to shareholders was $3.842bn
BP said the jump was driven by an “exceptional oil trading contribution”, stronger midstream performance and higher realised refining margins.
Its customers and products division, which includes refining and trading, reported underlying replacement cost profit before interest and tax of $3.203bn, up from $1.3bn in the final quarter of 2025 and $677m in the first quarter of last year.
The results underline how the company’s earnings were lifted not only by a higher oil price, but by the disruption and volatility created by the conflict. BP said the quarter reflected movements in crude differentials, freight markets and timing effects as well as a rising benchmark oil price.
Brent crude averaged $81.13 a barrel in the quarter, up from $63.73 in the final three months of 2025, according to BP’s trading update. Oil markets have swung sharply since the war began on 28 February after US and Israeli strikes on Iran, with crude moving from about $70 a barrel before the conflict to well above $100 at points. Brent was back above $110 on Tuesday after topping $120 in late March.
BP had signalled the strength of the quarter earlier this month. In a trading statement on 14 April, it said the oil trading result was expected to be “exceptional” and warned that higher prices would increase working capital requirements.
On Tuesday, the company reported net debt of $25.3bn, up from $22.2bn at the end of 2025, reflecting a higher-price environment that tied up more cash in inventories and trading positions. BP also announced a dividend of 8.320 cents per ordinary share.
The profit figure was above analyst expectations and is likely to add to political pressure in Britain, where the same rise in energy prices is feeding into the cost of living.
Official figures published this month showed UK annual inflation rose to 3.3% in March, up from 3.0% in February with transport costs — especially motor fuels — the biggest upward driver. According to the Office for National Statistics, petrol prices rose 8.6p per litre between February and March to 140.2p, while diesel increased 17.6p to 158.7p. Domestic heating oil prices were 95.3% higher than a year earlier.
Household energy bills have also become a renewed concern. Ofgem’s price cap for the period from 1 April to 30 June fell by 7%, offering some short-term relief, but the regulator has warned that the Middle East crisis could push up wholesale costs and affect the next cap for July to September. The next cap decision is due on 27 May.
The government has already sought to head off accusations of profiteering. On 24 March, Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced an anti-profiteering framework and said ministers would not hesitate to give regulators, including the Competition and Markets Authority, temporary powers to clamp down on price gouging if needed.
“We did not start this war. But the ongoing conflict in the Middle East affects us, and we are responding to it,” Reeves said at the time.
The latest BP figures are also likely to sharpen debate over the UK’s windfall tax on energy companies. The Energy Profits Levy stands at 38%, taking the headline tax rate on UK upstream oil and gas profits to 78% until 31 March 2030. But BP said the latest surge in earnings was driven largely by trading, midstream operations and refining, rather than simply by profits from UK oil and gas production.
That distinction could become politically significant because the levy is focused on upstream extraction profits, while the strongest gains in BP’s quarter came from the parts of the business that benefit from global market dislocation and volatility.
Campaign groups were quick to criticise the result. Simon Francis, co-ordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, said: “These astronomical profits are a startling reminder that when conflict drives up the price of oil and gas, energy companies profit and households pay.”
BP has argued that its integrated model allows it to make money not only from higher crude prices, but from trading, supply optimisation and refining when markets are under strain. On Tuesday it repeated that the oil trading contribution in the quarter had been “exceptional”.
The company’s results turn the Middle East conflict into a more immediate domestic issue for UK policymakers: a British energy major has posted a sharply stronger quarter thanks in large part to the same oil market shock that has pushed up pump prices, lifted inflation and raised the prospect of higher energy bills later this year.
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