Giant British oil firm BP Plc said today that its oil and gas output grew four per cent in the third quarter from a year ago, below its recent forecast and down from 5.5 per cent in the second quarter.
BP, Europe's biggest and most profitable listed company, said a month ago that output growth would be around five per cent in the quarter. At the same time it revised down its growth projection for the whole of 2002 to 4.5-5.0 per cent from 5.5 per cent previously, citing mainly technical problems in the UK North Sea, Alaska and elsewhere.
As three years of cost cutting and merger activity peters out in the oil industry, and while oil prices stay close to 10 year highs, companies' ability to increase output has become a key measure of their performance.