BP expects US earnings uplift from tax reform

Chris Ratcliffe | Bloomberg | Getty Images

A BP company logo at a gas station in London, U.K.

British energy company BP expects a positive impact on future post-tax earnings from the United States after the changes to U.S. corporate taxes, it said on Tuesday.

The U.S. House of Representatives gave final approval in December to the biggest overhaul of the U.S. tax code in 30 years, which included a cut to the corporate tax rate to 21 percent from 35 percent.

The company said the lowering of the U.S. tax rate requires revaluation of BP’s U.S. deferred tax assets and liabilities and estimated a one-off non-cash charge of about $1.5 billion on 2017 fourth-quarter results.

BP said it was reviewing the final impact of the tax changes and details of the final charge are expected to be disclosed in its fourth-quarter results announcement, due on Feb. 6.

Last week Shell said it expects the U.S. tax reforms to have a “favorable” impact on its operations, but added that the change would hit fourth-quarter results.