Hurricanes take wind out of BP's sales

LONDON - BP, Europe's largest oil company, said oil and gas production fell for the first time in more than two years and third-quarter profit would be cut more than US$700 million ($1.01 billion) because of damage from hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Third-quarter output was about 3.8 million barrels of oil equivalent a day, 2.8 per cent less than the 3.91 million reported in the year-earlier period, the London-based company said today in a Regulatory News Service statement.

Costs to repair BP's Thunder Horse platform in the Gulf of Mexico, harmed in an earlier storm, were an extra US$100 million in the period, the company said.

BP, led by chief executive John Browne, in July suffered damage from Hurricane Dennis to its US$1 billion Thunder Horse oil and gas platform. Katrina and Rita have so far halted production of 8.2 per cent of the region's total annual output.

"It's a short-term blip," said Bertie Thomson, a fund manager at Aberdeen Asset Management in London. "We're still in a very strong pricing environment."

Shares of BP have gained 31 per cent this year, surpassing the 14 per cent increase by the UK's FTSE 100 Index, to which it belongs.

BP reiterated its full-year forecast that production would be between 4.1 million and 4.2 million barrels a day. "I'm happy with that," Thomson said.

- BLOOMBERG