This past week BP, Phillips 66 and Shell reported first quarter 2013 financial results.

BP last Tuesday announced that its underlying replacement cost profit for the quarter was $4.2 billion, compared to $3.9 billion in the fourth quarter and $4.7 billion in the first quarter of 2012.

Operating cash flow in the quarter was $4.0 billion, compared with $3.4 billion in the first quarter of 2012.

Bob Dudley, BP Group Chief Executive, said: “These strong first quarter results demonstrate the progress BP is making in delivering the performance milestones that support our 10-point plan and underpin our commitment to material operating cash flow growth by 2014.

“The early completion of the sale of our interest in TNK-BP has also allowed us to begin a share buy-back programme which we expect to return up to $8 billion to our shareholders and reflects the reduction in BP’s asset base following our divestment programme over the past three years.” BP completed the sale of its interest in TNK-BP to Rosneft on March 21, for a total consideration of $27.5 billion in cash and Rosneft shares. BP now holds a total 19.75% interest in Rosneft. The 11 days of earnings from Rosneft in the first quarter of 2013 is estimated at $85 million. The gain on the disposal was $15.5 billion, of which $12.5 billion was recognised and reported as a non-operating item in the first quarter. $3.0 billion of the gain was deferred and will be released to the income statement over time.

Largely as a result of the Russia transaction, net debt at the end of the first quarter fell to $17.7 billion, equivalent to a gearing level of 11.9%, in the lower half of BP’s 10-20% target range.

In BP’s upstream business, underlying production of oil and gas — adjusted for the impact of divestments and production sharing agreement effects, and excluding TNK-BP and Rosneft — was over 4% higher than in the previous quarter as production ramped-up from major projects in high-margin areas – Angola and the North Sea. Compared with a year earlier, underlying production was around 2% higher.

BP’s downstream business benefited from a strong contribution from supply and trading operations in the quarter. Good operational performance in the fuels business, with refinery availability over 95%, enabled the benefits of the favourable refining environment to be captured, particularly in the US Mid-West. This was partially offset by the continued planned outage of the largest crude unit at the Whiting refinery as part of the refinery’s modernisation project. The full project is expected to come on stream as planned in the second half of this year.

Lubricants continued to deliver strong performance with pre-tax profit slightly ahead of both the prior quarter and the same period a year ago, but petrochemicals margins and volumes remained weak.

In addition to the sale of BP’s interest in TNK-BP, the divestment of the Texas City refinery and related assets was completed in the first quarter.

The total cumulative charge, net of recoveries, for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill at the end of the quarter remained at $42.2 billion. The total amounts that will ultimately be paid by BP in relation to all the obligations relating to the incident are subject to significant uncertainty and the ultimate exposure and cost to BP will be dependent on many factors, as outlined in the BP Annual Report.

Phillips 66 last Wednesday announced first-quarter earnings of $1.4 billion compared with earnings of $636 million in the first quarter of 2012. Adjusted earnings were $1.4 billion, an increase of $617 million from the first quarter of 2012.

Refining recorded first-quarter earnings of $922 million and adjusted earnings of $909 million. Adjusted earnings were $455 million higher than a year ago, primarily reflecting higher gasoline and distillate market crack spreads. Phillips 66 also improved its feedstock advantage by capturing wider Canadian crude differentials and running lower-cost crude slates in its Central Corridor and East Coast refineries.

Marketing and Specialties (M&S) which includes Phillips 66’s wholesale and retail fuel marketing, lubricants, power generation and flow improver businesses posted first-quarter earnings of $188 million. Adjusted earnings were $202 million, an increase of $147 million from the same quarter last year, primarily as a result of higher margins. Worldwide sales volumes from the company’s marketing business rose by 50,000 barrels per day compared with the first quarter of last year.

Reported earnings for Phillips 66’s specialties businesses were $15 million. Excluding special items, earnings were $49 million during the quarter, $6 million lower than the first quarter of 2012 due to slightly higher costs and inventory impacts, partially offset by increased volumes. Compared with the first quarter of 2012, sales volumes from the company’s lubricants business were up 14 percent, mostly due to planned maintenance during the first quarter of 2012. Flow improver volumes increased by 16 percent, largely attributable to new product lines focused on heavy crude.

Royal Dutch Shell PLC last Thursday reported lower profits for the first quarter, as a decline in oil prices offset improved earnings from its refining arm. The company reported net profit of $8.18 billion, down from $8.74 billion in the first quarter of 2012. Stripping out the impact of oil price fluctuations and asset sales, underlying earnings grew 2 percent.

Shell's first quarter 2013 earnings, on a current cost of supplies (CCS) basis, were $7.951 billion, up 4 percent, compared with $7.7 billion for the first quarter 2012. First quarter 2013 CCS earnings excluding identified items were $7.520 billion compared with $7.297 billion for the first quarter 2012, an increase of 3%.

Shell's revenues fell 5.1 percent to $112 billion.

Shell's upstream earnings fell 10 percent to $5.648 billion from $6.27 billion in the first quarter of 2012 due to lower oil prices. Shell's downstream profits rose to $1.848 billion from $1.122 billion in the first quarter of 2012, and from $1.19 billion in the fourth quarter of 2012.

Royal Dutch Shell announced last Thursday that after nearly four years as CEO Peter Voser will retire in the first half of next year. Voser, who has been an Executive Director at Shell since 2004, was appointed CEO in July 2009.