British energy giant BP said Tuesday that first-quarter net profits jumped by almost a fifth, as rising production and lower costs eclipsed the impact of weaker oil and gas prices.
Profit after tax rallied 19 percent to $2.9 billion (2.6 billion euros) in the three months to the end of March, BP said in a results statement. That compared with $2.5 billion during the same period last year.
Energy production rose about 2.4 percent to 3.8 million barrels of oil equivalent per day.
Output was lifted by last year's vast purchase of US shale oil and gas operations from mining titan BHP, as well as new projects in Egypt, Trinidad and Tobago and the Gulf of Mexico.
However, underlying replacement cost profit - a widely-watched measure which excludes fluctuations in the value of crude oil inventories - slid eight percent to $2.4 billion, although slightly above analysts' forecasts.
In the first quarter, BP paid another $600 million for costs arising from the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill catastrophe, but that was sharply lower than the $1.6 billion spent a year earlier.
Despite the weak market conditions, chief executive Bob Dudley said BP had enjoyed "solid" performances in both its downstream operations - which comprises refining, marketing and distribution - and upstream activities that cover exploration and production. "BP's performance this quarter demonstrates the strength of our strategy," said Dudley in the statement.
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