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Investing.com -- BP said Tuesday that its oil trading division is on track for an "exceptional" first quarter, driven by the surge in oil prices following the U.S.-Israeli military campaign against Iran.
The Middle East conflict has sent shockwaves through energy markets, with traders and refineries scrambling to secure alternative supplies after the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz trapped vast volumes of Gulf oil. The scramble for available cargoes has pushed prices sharply higher.
In its quarterly trading update, BP said its oil trading arm is expected to deliver "exceptional" results for the first three months of 2026, a sharp turnaround from a "weak" final quarter of 2025.
BP also flagged a rise in net debt, which it expects to climb to between $25 billion and $27 billion, up from just over $22 billion the previous quarter.
"This is driven primarily by a significant working capital build in the range of $4 to 7 billion, largely due to the price environment," BP said.
The energy giant also said that its upstream output for the first three months of the year was expected to be "broadly flat compared to the fourth quarter of 2025."
The update is BP’s first since Meg O’Neill took the helm as Chief Executive Officer on April 1. O’Neill has been tasked with slimming down the company, ramping up oil and gas output, and offloading underperforming clean energy assets.
She succeeded Murray Auchincloss, who was pushed out last year after new Chairman Albert Manifold concluded the company’s transformation was moving too slowly.
