BP makes biggest loss for 20 years and axes thousands of jobs

The British Petroleum (BP) company is to cut another 3,000 jobs after reporting a loss of $6.5bn, its worst annual loss in at least 20 years. The latest job cuts are in addition to the 4,000 job cuts already announced, according to the Guardian.

The latest financial blow from the US Gulf accident nearly six years ago helped to drag BP into a fourth quarter loss of $2.2bn and an annual loss of $6.5bn.

Shares in the group fell by more than 5% as the results underlined the impact of falling oil prices.

Despite this, Bob Dudley, BP’s chief executive, blamed low oil prices for the losses but gave an upbeat message saying the company was continuing to move rapidly to “adapt and rebalance” to cope with a changing environment.

“We’re making good progress in managing and lowering our costs and capital spending, while maintaining safe and reliable operations and continuing disciplined investment into the future of our portfolio.”

The underlying profit for the last three months, not counting the Gulf and other factors, was down from $2.2bn last time to $196m, much worse than analysts had expected.