Replacement cost profit between July and September was $1.23bn (£802m), compared with $2.38bn a year earlier. Total revenue was $55.9bn against $94.8bn a year ago.

The oil price dipped below $50 a barrel in the quarter, while it was above $100 for much of the same period last year.

Prices have dropped due to oversupply and weaker demand.

Impact of low oil prices hits BP

The impact of the fall in oil prices in the past 15 months or so is also pretty evident in BP's latest figures. Profits from its upstream business - that's oil exploration and extraction to you and me - was just $743m (£484m). That's still a big sum but compared to the $3.3bn BP made in profit last year, the scaling-back of its operations becomes pretty clear.

Thankfully for BP, its oil refinery business - "downstream" operations turning crude oil and the like into petrol among other things - had a great three months, with profits doubling from $1.2bn last year to $2.5bn this year.