£18.1 Billion

[Foey]

BP have announced that for the last year they have made £18.1 Billion profit, up by about 39% on last year, if they can make that much profit why did they have to increase pump prices as much as they did, Ok i know a large portion goes to number 10 in tax but that same amount still goes there when prices are much lower, was it all down to the arabs hiking the price of oil, i don't think so, more like another case of the worldwide public being ripped off yet again. :rant:

[G]

As much as it pain me to say it.............that business, you would not be in it if you couldnt make a profit from it.

They luckily have got into a business that the world has become reliant on.......so they can effectively charge what people will pay, and thats probably anything.

Black Gold

[Flamin_Squirrel]

Oh not another stupid thread about company profits.

Your pension is tied up in stocks and shares. Considering the housing and financial markets have just come crashing down, companies like BP are one of the few investments that will give you have anything to retire on at all.

And of course what G said too.

[Steve_God]

They'll only charge whatever people are willing to pay for it.
Only a few months ago people were still willing to pay £1.20+ a litre for it, so that's what they charged.

[BigFootIsBlurry]

Your pension is tied up in stocks and shares.
.

Mine isn't, final salary scheme FTW.

However, it is obscene that they can make that much money but at the end of the day if all the petroleum companies disappeared we'd all be screwed. Anyway, fuel is still cheaper per litre than Evian of Pepsi, even with the tax, and no one shouts about being ripped off for soft drinks. You can't tell me it costs more to bottle water than it does to refine oil.

[muffles]

Mine isn't, final salary scheme FTW.

The way it's funded is probably the same way though ;) it just means your company has a bigger debt potential. If it gets too bad, they may not be able to pay, the scheme might collapse - I'm not sure what happens then...

[malks]

ok they made that much, but what percentage is that profit of company turnover. yes it's a huge ammount of cash to make, but if it's only 2/3% then it's still a huge risk for the company to make fairly small (percentage) returns!

would you run a business for only a couple of % profit??

[Mr Speirs]

Anyway, fuel is still cheaper per litre than Evian of Pepsi, even with the tax, and no one shouts about being ripped off for soft drinks. You can't tell me it costs more to bottle water than it does to refine oil.

True but we don't need Pepsi in those quantities.

[muffles]

True but we don't need Pepsi in those quantities.

Speak for yourself.

:drink:

[G]

True but we don't need Pepsi in those quantities.

Thats why pepsi could never get away with charging over £1.20 a ltr and BP can.

[Welsh_Wizard]

Only a few months ago people were still willing to pay £1.20+ a litre for it, so that's what they charged.

I'd hazard a guess and say no one was 'willing' to pay £1.20 p/l.

It was more an act of necessity as there were no other places selling it cheaper..

[BigFootIsBlurry]

Thats why pepsi could never get away with charging over £1.20 a ltr and BP can.

Last time I bought Pepsi I'm pretty sure I paid about a pound for 500ml, and around 2 pound for a couple of litres. Which, when you take into account the relative amounts of tax on drinks and fuel, makes the drink more expensive. I'm not using this as an exact science, just an example.

[Biker Biggles]

Being an oil company BP own a helluva lot of oil.When the oil price doubled last year their assets went up accordingly and that is a large part of how profit is calculated.Now the oil price has gone down again I would expect to see their profits dwindle to very little this year.Time will tell.

[Spokey]

And most of the profit comes from exploration side of the business - the fuel and lubes retailing side normally makes a very small profit and sometimes even makes a loss.

Joe public only see's the petrol stations part of the business, and assumes that the profit comes from there - it doesn't unfortunately.

[on yer bike]

Does the creator of this thread know how much petrol is sold in the year to reach this profit?

BP and Shell both made less than 1p a litre on average in the last year. So it would have made very little difference on the amount you pay if they took it down to zero profit.

The results were driven by the rising cost of oil, which finished June at 144 US dollars a barrel, although BP says it makes less than 1p profit on every litre it sells at its 1,300 UK filling stations.

It was the imported stocks that were running at a low capacity and tankers raking in on profits causing the price rises, on which garages followed by putting thier prices up. The production was later stepped up by the government getting involved with talks with the foreign oil companies and countries making deals. It is because of this the prices went down again. I think it's the only thing the government has done correct so far.

[muffles]

Does the creator of this thread know how much petrol is sold in the year to reach this profit?

BP and Shell both made less than 1p a litre on average in the last year. So it would have made very little difference on the amount you pay if they took it down to zero profit.

I don't have any data to hand but I suspect that's just for the forecourt petrol....

If BP drill their own oil (and you know, I'm not really sure to what extent oil companies go to) then they are in a position to make more money on that oil as it is then sold on through the different BP subsidiaries until it reaches the forecourt company. The above is only showing the profits their 'customer facing' business generates (and even then only on fuel, since they have shops there too).

[Spokey]

The fuel they sell in very large quantities - ie to places that take millions of litres a year, such as a large industrial customer - is actually fractions of a penny !!
The garages make more money on a Mars bar or a cup of coffee than they do a tankful of petrol.