BP posts $16.8bln loss

London: BP plunged into a net loss of almost $16.85 billion in the second quarter, the British oil giant announced on Tuesday, as the coronavirus pandemic ravaged demand for oil, sending prices tumbling.

"The ongoing severe impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to create a volatile and challenging trading environment," BP said in its earnings statement. "Looking ahead, the outlook for commodity prices and product demand remains challenging and uncertain," it added.

The quarterly loss after tax of almost $16.85 billion (14.10 billion euros) compared with net profit of $1.82 billion in the second quarter of 2019, BP said. "In particular, our reset of long-term price assumptions and the related impairment and exploration write-off charges had a major impact," said chief executive Bernard Looney.

Alongside its results, BP set out details on how it expects to achieve "net zero" carbon emissions for the company by 2050.

Switching from an international oil company to an "integrated energy company", BP said that over the next decade its oil and gas production is expected to reduce by at least one million barrels of oil equivalent a day, or 40 percent when compared with 2019 levels.

"This coming decade is critical for the world in the fight against climate change, and to drive the necessary change in global energy systems will require action from everyone," Looney said.