BP profit hits 18-year high on refinery boom

BP Plc said profit jumped to the highest in 18 years as soaring refining margins boosted earnings, speeding up the energy giant’s efforts to fix its balance sheet and pay down debt. Adjusted net income was $8.46 billion in the third quarter, up from $2.21 billion a year earlier, the London-based major said in a an Oct. 30 statement. More than half that profit came from the unit that includes oil refining and trading. The results are CEO Meg O’Neill’s second full quarter at the helm and offer a fresh look at the operational performance that she’s identified as a priority. BP’s first outsider CEO is cutting costs, selling assets and paying down debt while preparing to lay out her longer-term strategy in December. “It really was a banner quarter for the refining business,” O’Neill said told Bloomberg Television. “We had very strong margins from the BP-operated refineries; we also had very strong underlying performance. We were able to capture the opportunity provided by the market.” Net debt tumbled to $13.87 billion from $22.3 billion just three months earlier, surpassing the company’s target a year ahead of schedule. The rapid improvement in the balance sheet gives O’Neill more room to restore shareholder returns after the company suspended buybacks earlier this year. But she resisted pressure to follow rivals with large payouts and is instead channeling the windfall toward further balance-sheet repair. That includes paying down remaining liabilities from the deadly Deepwater Horizon disaster earlier than scheduled. The company still owes about $6.8 billion by 2033 in settlement payments. “We will…

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