British Petroleum (www.bp.com) reports that its profits fell by 64% in the third quarter as oil prices halved, forcing the energy group to scale back investment and sell more assets.

BP said that its profits for the three months to the end of September were $46 million, compared with $1.29 billion a year earlier. The group added that it has lowered its full-year 2015 capital-spending forecast to $19 billion; it invested $23 billion in 2014.

Chief executive Bob Dudley said: “Last year, we acted decisively to reset BP for a sustained period of lower oil prices, and the results are coming through well. We are now in action to re-balance our financial framework in this new price environment.”

He added that BP is to sell $3-5 billion of assets next year: “Divestment proceeds are expected to provide flexibility to help manage both continuing oil price volatility and our commitments in the USA”.

In October 2013, BP unveiled plans to sell another $10 billion of assets, having already off-loaded assets worth $38 billion.

BP also took another $426 million charge in the third quarter for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil disaster, taking its total charge to $55 billion.

Meanwhile, Royal Dutch Shell has reported a $6.1 billion (£4 billion) loss for the third quarter of 2015, which it attributed to lower oil and gas prices.

The oil giant, which has its headquarters in the Dutch capital The Hague, also announced that it has halted its Alaskan offshore exploration activities and stopped the construction of its Carmon Creek oil-sands project in Canada. Chief executive Ben van Beurden said: “These are difficult decisions.

I am determined that Shell will become a more focused and competitive company as a result.”

Shell’s loss in the third quarter of 2015 compares with a $5.3 billion profit for the same period of 2014. Mr van Beurden added: “Upstream earnings were negatively affected by lower oil and gas prices — partly offset by lower costs, increased production volumes and improved operational performance.”

This was the worst performance by Shell, which is in the process of buying oil and gas exploration company BG Group for more than $70 billion — the industry’s largest deal this year.