Mubasher: BP on Tuesday reported losses of $16.8 billion for the second quarter (Q2) of 2020, compared to a loss of $4.4 billion over the first three months of 2020, CNBC reported.

The quarterly losses came after BP had downgraded the value of some of its assets on forecasts of lower commodity prices.

The second quarter underlying replacement cost profit, used as a proxy for net profit, came in at a loss of $6.7 billion, compared with a net profit of $800 million in Q1 of the year.

BP further halved its dividends to 5.25 cents per share for Q2-20, compared to 10.5 cents per share for the first three months of the year.

In July, the UK-based oil and gas firm said that it could incur non-cash impairment charges and write-offs in the second quarter, expecting an aggregate range of $13 billion to $17.5 billion after tax.

At the time, BP said the enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic had prompted the firm to lower its oil and price forecasts through to 2050.

“These headline results have been driven by another very challenging quarter, but also by the deliberate steps we have taken as we continue to reimagine energy and reinvent bp,” said CEO of BP, Bernard Looney.

“In particular, our reset of long-term price assumptions and the related impairment and exploration write-off charges had a major impact. Beneath these, however, our performance remained resilient, with good cash flow and – most importantly – safe and reliable operations,” he added.