BP CEO hails exploration discovery boon after surprise profit beat

BP CEO Murray Auchincloss on Tuesday leaned into the growth potential of the company's recent oil and gas discoveries, as the struggling energy major battles takeover questions amid a major turnaround.

"Inside the upstream, we've had tremendous performance, along with record operating efficiency [and] along with starting up five new major projects," BP's Auchincloss told CNBC's "Squawk Box Europe" on Tuesday, just after the release of the company's second-quarter results.

"We've had tremendous exploration success, 10 commercial exploration discoveries this year and yesterday we announced our most exciting, the Bumerangue discovery in Brazil," Auchincloss said.

The London-listed company on Monday announced its largest oil and gas discovery in 25 years off the coast of Brazil, reflecting a potentially significant boost as it continues to double down on hydrocarbons.

BP's CEO said he was "very optimistic" about the Bumerangue oil and gas discovery.

Earlier, the energy major reported underlying replacement cost profit, used as a proxy for net profit, of $2.35 billion for the three months through June. That comfortably beat analyst expectations of $1.81 billion, according to an LSEG-compiled consensus.

BP's net profit came in at $2.76 billion over the second quarter of last year and $1.38 billion in the first three months of 2025.

BP said its quarterly dividend will increase to 8.32 cents from 8 cents and that it will maintain the pace of its share buyback program at $750 million for the second quarter.

The results come as BP continues to try to rebuild investor confidence following a protracted period of underperformance relative to its industry peers.

Shares of the company are up around 3.3% year-to-date.

BP's net debt came in at $26.04 billion at the end of the second quarter, down from nearly $27 billion compared to the first three months of the year.

BP, which is under intense pressure to improve profitability from the likes of activist investor Elliott, also said it would initiate a further cost review of its assets.

The move comes shortly before Albert Manifold joins BP's board from Sept. 1 and as chair from Oct. 1.

Asked for further details of this strategic review, Auchincloss told CNBC: "If you think back to 2020, we reduced our costs by 25%, and in 2024 we announced another program to reduce our costs by another 20%. That's the $4-5 billion that I referenced earlier."

"If we can achieve that, that will take us to around top quartile in the sector, but I don't think that is enough," Auchincloss said.

"We need to keep driving safely to be the very best in the sector we can be. And that's why we're focused on another review to try to drive us toward best in class inside the sector," he added.

BP has recently been the subject of intense takeover speculation, prompting domestic rival Shell to say in late June that it had "no intention" of making an offer. UAE oil giant ADNOC, as well as U.S. oil giants Exxon Mobil and Chevron, are among some of the names that have been touted as possible suitors.

Asked whether the company had been approached by any potential suitors amid ongoing takeover speculation, Auchincloss said BP is focused on growth.

"That's what is going to drive the share price up for shareholders," he added.