High Oil Prices Advantageous for BP

British Petroleum reported a 23 per cent rise in quarterly profits.
High crude oil prices have helped BP to increase its 2nd quarter net profit up to $3.9 billion from $3.2 billion for the same period last year.
For the first half of 2004 its profits were up to $8.6 billion from $7.2 billion.
BP also expects oil prices to remain high because of continued high demand and constraints on capacity.
Analysts had forecast that BP would report second-quarter profits of between $3.9 billion and $4.5bn.
BP's oil production increased by 18% in the second quarter, compared with a year earlier.