UK oil giant BP has said its second-quarter profits are down 53% from a year ago after oil prices remained low.

BP’s replacement cost profit between April and June was $3.1bn (£1.9bn).

The price of oil has hovered at between $60 and $70 a barrel recently – well off the high of $147 seen last July and the $30 lows of earlier this year.

Last month, the company appointed Carl-Henric Svanberg, the Ericsson chief executive, as its new chairman to replace Sir Peter Sutherland.

Mr Svanberg will be joining at a challenging time for the firm after almost 40% of investors voted against BP’s remuneration report at its annual meeting.

‘Turbulent times’

BP’s profit was up 30% from the level seen in the first three months of the year and chief executive Tony Hayward said the firm was delivering a good performance.

"We are in turbulent times, volatile and uncertain," Mr Hayward said. "But we continue to steer a steady course through choppy waters."

Daily production rose by 4% in the three months to the end of June, BP said.

This figure is being closely monitored by analysts to see how output cuts by oil producer cartel Opec and attacks by militants in Nigeria have hit growth in the sector as a whole.

BP said that it had already achieved the $2bn in cost-cutting it had aimed for in 2009, and was expecting to save a further $1bn during the rest of the year. </p

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