BP's first full quarter under CEO Meg O'Neill saw profits more than double to $5.7bn and the petro giant today announced it intends to sell Archaea, its biogas business in the US.

Underlying profit rose to $5.7bn in the second quarter from $3.2bn in the previous three months, while reported profit was broadly unchanged at $3.9bn.

Operating cash flow increased to $10.9bn despite a $1bn working capital build, driven by stronger earnings and lower working capital outflows.

The company increased its quarterly dividend by 4% to 8.66 cents a share and reduced net debt to $22.3bn from $25.3bn at the end of the first quarter. BP also cut the combined total of net debt, hybrid bonds, leases and Gulf of America settlement liabilities by $6.9bn during the quarter.

Operational performance weakened, however, with upstream plant reliability falling to 92.4% from 95.7%, production slipping to 2.2 million barrels of oil equivalent a day from 2.3 million, and refining throughput declining to 1.467 million barrels a day from 1.527 million.

BP said the lower performance reflected planned maintenance and disruption linked to conflict in the Middle East.

Across its businesses, underlying profit in gas and low carbon energy increased to $2.1bn from $1.3bn, supported by higher gas prices and improved realisations.

Oil production and operations generated underlying profit of $3.6bn, up from $2bn, benefiting from stronger crude prices and improved production mix despite higher exploration write-offs.

New CEO O'Neill is putting her foot on the gas to simplify the business through asset sales and strengthen the balance sheet.

BP continued to reshape its portfolio during the quarter, completing the sale of its Gelsenkirchen refinery, agreeing to sell its Austrian retail business and launching sale processes for its UK North Sea business and US biogas company Archaea Energy. The group also reached agreement to bring partners into its Kirkuk project in Iraq.

In Belgium, BP confirmed the financial separation of Telenet and Wyre had been completed, while wider asset disposals worth between $1.2bn and $1.4bn across Ziggo Group remain under way to support further debt reduction.

O'Neill, delivering her second set of results since becoming CEO, said: "This is my first full quarter at bp, and it has been marked by one of the most disrupted periods in the global energy market. Financially, we delivered a strong quarter... and made good progress strengthening bp's balance sheet. But there are areas where our performance fell short

"However, we are not making the most of our potential. Our performance over the past few years has not met our own expectations, let alone those of our shareholders. We have not delivered consistently; we have written off too much value; and our costs and liabilities are not resilient enough in a low price environment.

"My job is to help make bp the best we can be. We need to take a clear look at ourselves: assessing what needs to change, stopping what holds us back and building strength where it matters. We have to get fit to grow. To do so, I am laying out five priorities to deliver a step change in performance and grow shareholder value."

To this end, she also outlined plans to strengthen the balance sheet, improve operational performance, simplify the portfolio, increase financial resilience and deliver higher shareholder returns.

BP shares fell around 1.3% in early London trading as investors took profits following a recent rally.

AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould said the latest results showed O'Neill was "wasting no time in putting her stamp on the business", with planned asset sales reinforcing BP's renewed focus on its core hydrocarbons operations while making the company more streamlined and financially resilient.

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