BP sees lower contango contribution to earnings

NEW YORK, April 28 (Reuters) - British oil major BP Plc (BP.L: Quote, Profile, Research) on Tuesday posted first-quarter earnings that beat forecasts on strong trading performance but warned this level of contribution was not likely to persist in subsequent quarters.

"There's no doubt that the first quarter saw some very strong overall contributions from our supply and trading operations and that was particularly in refining and marketing where we benefited from the strong contango structure of the crude oil market," said Byron Grote, chief financial officer of Europe's second largest oil company.

"And as a consequence, we don't anticipate that this level of contribution is likely to persist in subsequent quarters." he said. (Reporting by Janet McGurty; Editing by John Picinich)