High oil price to help BP figures

However, its profits are expected to be 5% lower than the previous year as a result of falling production after it sold assets to pay for the Deepwater Horizon crisis and a squeeze in margins in its refining business.

The City expects the group on Tuesday to report profits of 5.08 billion US dollars (£3.2 billion), only slightly higher than the 5 billion US dollars in the previous quarter and less than the 5.4 billion US dollars a year ago.