bp plc on tuesday reported a significant net loss for the first quarter but its underlying earnings improved on the back of exceptional trading profits higher oil prices and refining margins heres what the british energy giant had to say reported loss for the quarter was 204 billion compared with a profit of 23 billion for the fourth quarter 2021 the reported result includes adjusting items before tax of 308 billion underlying replacement cost profit was 62 billion compared with 41 billion for the previous quarter this was driven by exceptional oil and gas trading higher oil realizations and a stronger refining result partly offset by the absence of rosneft from the first quarter underlying result after excluding adjusting items the underlying replacement cost profit before interest and tax for the first quarter was 3595 million compared with 2270 million for the same period in 2021 the underlying replacement cost profit for the first quarter compared with the same period in 2021 reflects higher realizations offset by a higher depreciation depletion and amortization charge and an exceptional gas marketing and trading result albeit lower than in 2021 reported production for the quarter was 966mboed 62 higher than the same period in 2021 mainly due to major project startups during 2021 partially offset by base decline and the partial divestment in oman at the end of the first quarter 2021 the renewables pipeline increased by 18gw during the quarter primarily as a result of bp and its partner enbw being awarded a lease option off the east coast of scotland to develop an offshore wind project with a total generating capacity of around 29gw 145gw bp net after excluding adjusting items the underlying replacement cost profit before interest and tax for the first quarter was 4683 million compared with 1565 million for the same period in 2021 the higher underlying replacement cost profit for the first quarter compared with the same period in 2021 primarily reflects higher liquids and gas realizations reported production for the quarter was 1286mboed 17 lower than the first quarter of 2021 underlying production for the quarter was flat compared with the first quarter of 2021 after excluding adjusting items the underlying replacement cost profit before interest and tax for the first quarter was 2156 million compared with 656 million for the same period in 2021 the customers  products result for the first quarter reflects a significantly stronger performance compared with the same period in 2021 with higher results in both refining and oil trading bp expects an ongoing elevated risk of oil price volatility this reflects uncertainties around the level of disruption to russian supply the capacity for increased opec supply the ongoing impact of covid19 on demand and the impact of the conflict in ukraine on economic growth bp expects the shortterm outlook for gas prices to remain heavily dependent on russian pipeline flows to europe in the second quarter of 2022 bp expects industry refining margins to remain elevated due to ongoing supply disruptions particularly in russia and europe looking ahead we expect secondquarter 2022 underlying upstream production to be lower than firstquarter 2022 primarily in gas  low carbon energy reflecting base decline and seasonal maintenance on a reported basis secondquarter production will reflect additional impacts from the absence of production from our russia incorporated joint ventures in our customers  products business there is an elevated level of uncertainty due to the developing impacts from the conflict in ukraine and ongoing covid19 restrictions in addition in castrol additive supplies are expected to remain under pressure in refining we expect higher industry refining margins although the increase in realized margins may differ due to market dislocations in addition energy prices are expected to remain elevated and turnaround costs to be higher for full year 2022 we continue to expect reported upstream production to be broadly flat compared with 2021 despite the absence of production from our russia incorporated joint ventures on an underlying basis we expect production from oil production  operations to be slightly higher and production from gas  low carbon energy to be broadly flat