BP PLC has followed suit after Shell PLC in raising projected refining margins for the second quarter compared to the prior three-month period.
However, unlike Shell, BP expects stronger oil trading for the April-June quarter. Both British energy giants said upstream production could increase quarter-on-quarter, though the lower end of Shell’s output range was lower than its actual Q1 production.
BP expects realized refining margins to land between $300 million and $500 million for Q2.
“There was a significantly higher level of turnaround activity. The oil trading result is expected to be strong”, BP said in an online statement.
Its refining marker margin, the average of regional indicator margins weighted for BP’s crude refining capacity in each region, averaged $21.1 a barrel in Q2, compared to $15.2 per barrel in Q1.
However, refining margins “remain sensitive to the economic outlook”, the company said.
BP reported $67.88 per barrel in average Brent, compared to $75.73 per barrel in Q1.
“WTI CMA vs WCS, lagged 1 month, averaged $10.01/bbl in the second quarter 2025 compared to $13.03/bbl in the first quarter 2025”, it added.
For the full year BP sees “broadly flat refining margins and stronger underlying performance underpinned by the absence of the plant-wide power outage at Whiting refinery; improvement plans across the portfolio; similar levels of turnaround activity, with phasing of turnaround activity in 2025 heavily weighted towards 1H25, with the highest impact in 2Q”.
Likewise for its customers segment, BP expects improved fuels margins and seasonally higher volumes quarter-on-quarter. It noted fuels margins remain sensitive to supply costs.
For the full year, the customers segment is projected to register “growth from convenience, including a full year contribution from bp bioenergy and a higher contribution from TravelCenters of America”.
For natural gas trading and marketing, BP expects Q2 results to be “average”.
Earlier this month Shell said it expects an indicative refining margin of $8.9 per barrel, higher than Q1’s actual figure of $6.2 per barrel, and an indicative chemicals margin of $166 per metric ton, higher than Q1’s actual figure of $126 per metric ton.
Shell noted the new outlook figures would be $7.5 per barrel and $143 per metric ton respectively had it not been for the divestment of its Energy and Chemicals Park in Singapore.
It said it expects “significantly lower” trading and optimization for its products and chemicals segment. Shell expects the adjusted result for the chemicals segment to be a loss, with utilization impacted by unplanned maintenance at the Monaca plant in Pennsylvania.
However, Shell put sales guidance for its marketing segment at 2.6 million to three million barrels per day (MMbd), compared to Q1 actual volumes of 2.67 MMbd.
Shell and BP have scheduled the release of their quarterly reports for July 31 and August 5 respectively.
To contact the author, email jov.onsat@rigzone.com
What do you think? We’d love to hear from you, join the conversation on the
Rigzone Energy Network.
The Rigzone Energy Network is a new social experience created for you and all energy professionals to Speak Up about our industry, share knowledge, connect with peers and industry insiders and engage in a professional community that will empower your career in energy.
element
var scriptTag = document.createElement(‘script’);
scriptTag.src = url;
scriptTag.async = true;
scriptTag.onload = implementationCode;
scriptTag.onreadystatechange = implementationCode;
location.appendChild(scriptTag);
};
var div = document.getElementById(‘rigzonelogo’);
div.innerHTML += ” +
‘
‘ +
”;
var initJobSearch = function () {
//console.log(“call back”);
}
var addMetaPixel = function () {
if (-1 > -1 || -1 > -1) {
/*Meta Pixel Code*/
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)
{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};
if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;
n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,’script’,
‘https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’);
fbq(‘init’, ‘1517407191885185’);
fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’);
/*End Meta Pixel Code*/
} else if (0 > -1 && 81 > -1)
{
/*Meta Pixel Code*/
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)
{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};
if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;
n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,’script’,
‘https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’);
fbq(‘init’, ‘1517407191885185’);
fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’);
/*End Meta Pixel Code*/
}
}
// function gtmFunctionForLayout()
// {
//loadJS(“https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-K6ZDLWV6VX”, initJobSearch, document.body);
//}
// window.onload = (e => {
// setTimeout(
// function () {
// document.addEventListener(“DOMContentLoaded”, function () {
// // Select all anchor elements with class ‘ui-tabs-anchor’
// const anchors = document.querySelectorAll(‘a .ui-tabs-anchor’);
// // Loop through each anchor and remove the role attribute if it is set to “presentation”
// anchors.forEach(anchor => {
// if (anchor.getAttribute(‘role’) === ‘presentation’) {
// anchor.removeAttribute(‘role’);
// }
// });
// });
// }
// , 200);
//});
