BG Group profits soar on oil prices

Energy firm BG Group has posted a 92 per cent increase in second quarter operating profit to £1.4 billion on soaring oil prices.

Net profit rose 59 per cent to £747 million, while earnings per share were up 101 per cent to 24.1p.

The firm, which has seen its share price rise as oil costs shot up in recent months, said higher commodity prices, particularly for liquefied natural gas, fuelled the jump in profits.

The average realised gas price per produced therm in the UK rose by 8.9p to 32.8p during the period.

BG Group's chief executive, Frank Chapman said: "I am delighted to report that BG Group has delivered another strong business performance and continues to create material value through our exploration programme with successful results in Brazil, Algeria, Norway, Trinidad and Tobago and the UK."

The group said its exploration programme had seen "significant success" during the quarter and has discovered new gas areas all over the world.

In the UK, BG Group confirmed the presence of hydrocarbons in a separate structure to the north-east of the Jasmine field, in which BG has a 30.5 per cent stake.

The Grangemouth dispute in the UK as well as an outage in India held back production volumes, which increased by just two per cent, the company added.

In June, BG Group launched a £6.7 billion takeover bid for Australian firm Origin Energy.