BP reported that its profit for the second quarter of 2016 has dropped by 44% to $720m, compared with $1.3b for the second quarter of 2015, reported Hellenic Shipping News.

BP CEO, Bob Dudely, was quoted by The Guardian saying: “Compared with a year earlier, the underlying second-quarter result was impacted by lower oil and gas prices.” The company is now working on the assumption that oil prices will range between $50 – $55 a barrel in 2017.

Earlier in July 2016, BP announced that it had made significant progress in resolving outstanding claims from the Deepwater Horizon Accident and oil spill. The company has taken a net post-tax non-operating charge of $2.8b in the quarter, which resulted in the reported loss of $1.4b.

The Guardian wrote that oil companies have rushed to cut costs and lower their investments after oil prices fell to a 12-year low in January 2016, resulting in thousands of job losses all over the world, especially in the UK were 120,000 oil employees are prone to lose their jobs by the end of 2016.