BP has announced profits of $5.3bn (£3.2bn) in the three months to 30 June as higher oil prices offset a fall in production.

The figure compares with a loss of £10.3bn for the same quarter in 2010, when BP was responding to the disastrous oil leak after the fatal Deepwater Horizon blast in the Gulf of Mexico.

A total of $6.8bn has been paid out to firms, individuals and government departments to fund economic and environmental restoration of the Gulf of Mexico.

BP’s oil production was 11% down on the same period of 2010 following suspension of drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

It has also sold $25bn worth of assets, partly to pay for the clean-up operation in the Gulf.

But the effects of the lower production were offset by the higher oil price, which was inflated by political unrest in oil-producing countries such as Libya.