Here are the business stories making the headlines across the country this morning.
BP Sees Strong Trading Performance in First Quarter
BP expects to report a strong performance from its trading business for the first quarter, with a notable improvement in results from buying and selling oil.
The boost in trading came alongside rising oil and gas production and improved margins in the company’s refining business, according to a trading update published on Tuesday.
BP’s gas marketing and trading business maintained the strong performance seen in the prior period, while oil showed improvement from a weak fourth quarter, according to the company.
Post Office scandal: Hero Alan Bates to give evidence as inquiry resumes
The UK Post Office Horizon Public Inquiry resumes today almost four years after it began.
Public and political interest in the industrial-scale miscarriage of justice suffered by sub-postmasters was transformed by a television drama.
Since 2020 retired judge Sir Wyn Williams has been probing the circumstances that led the Post Office to prosecute more than 900 sub-postmasters for theft, fraud and false accounting caused not by dishonesty, but errors in the Horizon software it required them to use, since 2020.
This necessarily painstaking process has been conducted in public throughout, with dozens of evidence sessions aired live on YouTube, with transcription and hundreds of documents available in full online.
John Lewis names former Tesco UK boss Jason Tarry as new chairman
John Lewis has said the former boss of Tesco's UK business, Jason Tarry, will become its next chairman.
Mr Tarry will start in September, taking over from Dame Sharon White who said last year that she would be standing down at the end of her term.
The partnership, which includes the John Lewis department stores and Waitrose supermarkets, has come under increasing pressure in recent years.
It has closed stores and cut jobs, but recently announced a return to profit.
Putin seeks emergency petrol as Russia runs on fumes
Russia has reportedly asked Kazakhstan to supply it with petrol as Ukrainian attacks on its refineries force it to import gasoline.
Kazakhstan has been asked to set up a reserve of 100,000 tonnes of gasoline, equivalent to 845,000 barrels, to supply Russia should shortages arise, Reuters reported.
It is unclear if a deal has been reached. The Kremlin has also been seeking supplies from Belarus.
Russia is normally an exporter of gasoline but Ukrainian drone attacks have significantly hit its refining capabilities, forcing it to rely on imports to meet demand.