BP fell short of profit expectations for the first quarter of the year. But it did not spare the energy giant from the wrath of the environmental lobby.

London-listed BP reported a profit of $2.7 billion on the underlying replacement cost metric for the opening quarter of the year. It was down from $4.9bn a year ago and £3bn in the fourth quarter of last year, as the company felt the impact of lower energy prices, weaker fuels margins, and an outage at its Whiting refinery in Indiana.

BP hailed its performance as “resilient”, citing higher oil production and the start of production at its Ace (Azeri Central East) platform in the Caspian Sea. And it softened the blow of the fall in profits by reaffirming its commitment to a share buyback of $3.5bn for the first half, and announcing first-quarter dividend of 7.27 cents per ordinary share.

READ MORE: 'King of clubs' had so many tales of Glasgow’s most famous rock acts

Stuart Lamont, investment manager at RBC Brewin Dolphin, said: “As with Shell last week, investors were looking for reassurance from BP on production volumes and capital discipline. However, BP has missed profit expectations on the back of lower gas prices, weaker margins, and operational outages.

“The extension to the share buyback programme and maintained dividend will, nevertheless, provide shareholders with some solace.”

While investors may have been soothed by the prospect of buybacks and returns, the company faced fresh criticism from the environmental lobby. The Scottish Greens declared BP’s “eye-watering profits” underlined the need for a “watertight and robust” windfall tax to “ensure that polluters support a just transition from fossil fuels”.

Describing BP’s first-quarter profits as “obscene”, the party’s climate spokesperson Mark Ruskell MSP declared: “Climate records are being broken almost every month and the world is burning around us, but fossil fuel giants like BP are raking in eye-watering profits.

READ MORE: Heineken to re-open 62 outlets in £39m investment drive

“The polluters must be made to pay for the damage they are causing if we are to deliver the scale of investment in renewables that is needed and fund a just transition away from oil and gas. Yet, the UK government’s windfall tax isn’t fit for purpose. It is too low and it's full of loopholes and incentives to encourage even more domestic drilling.”

Campaign group Global Witness piled in too. It said that BP has paid £22.3bn to shareholders since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, with pay-outs “buoyed” by the surge in energy prices which arose in the aftermath of the invasion.

In 2020, BP’s then chief executive Bernard Looney said the company would cut oil and gas production by 40% by 2030, from 2019 levels, and invest heavily in transition businesses such as wind power. However, he modified those targets as concern over energy security rose in light of the conflict in Ukraine. Last year, BP said it expected to cut oil and gas production by 25% by 2020, from 2019 levels.

Murray Auchincloss, who succeeded Mr Looney on a permanent basis in January, said today: "We've delivered another resilient quarter financially and continued to make progress on our strategy. Oil production was up and our Ace platform in the Caspian is now producing.

"We are simplifying and reducing complexity across BP and plan to deliver at least two billion dollars of cash cost savings by the end of 2026 through high grading our portfolio, digital transformation, supply chain efficiencies and global capability hubs."