BP Plc (NYSE: BP) has floated the possibility of raising its dividend for the first time since oil prices crashed four years ago after reporting a 71% increase in first-quarter earnings.

The prospect of improved shareholder returns from BP reflects growing confidence among the world’s largest energy groups as they ride the recovery in oil prices.

Brent crude, the international benchmark, is trading at about $75 a barrel, its highest level since the collapse from above $100 a barrel in 2014.

Brian Gilvary, BP CFO, said improved market conditions, rising production and tight control of spending were opening options for returning more cash to shareholders.

“With these oil prices, we will now see net debt naturally start to decline and that will give an opportunity later this year for potential further distribution around buybacks or a conversation with the board around the dividend,” he told analysts on a conference call.

In October last year, BP became the first European oil and gas group to resume share buybacks after the downturn and others, including Total SA (NYSE: TOT) of France, have since followed suit.

Better than expected profits from BP brought to a close a generally strong set of quarterly results from the oil and gas “supermajors,” fueled by a 25% increase in oil prices from last year to an average $67 a barrel during the period.

BP had the additional advantage of strongly rising production after the start-up of seven new oil and gas fields last year, ranging from Oman to Trinidad, lifted output by 6% to 3.7 million barrels per day. A further six new projects are due onstream this year, including Egypt and Azerbaijan, as part of renewed expansion after the long period of retrenchment that followed the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Fines and compensation payments from the 2010 disaster cost BP a further $1.6 billion during the quarter and are expected to top $3 billion over the full year as the final 300 compensation claims, out of almost 400,000 settled so far, work their way towards resolution.

These costs, together with $120 million in share buybacks, caused a slight rise in net debt during the quarter to $40 billion, representing a gearing ratio of 28.1%. However, Gilvary said debt would gradually fall over the rest of the year as cash flow improved.

He said the financial burden from Deepwater Horizon was now on a downward curve from $5.2 billion of payouts last year, with further falls expected to $2 billion in 2019 and $1 billion a year after that until 2032. The disaster has cost BP more than $65 billion to date.

Jon Rigby, analyst at UBS, described BP’s results as a “good quality earnings beat”.

Underlying replacement cost profits, the measure tracked most closely by analysts, were $2.6 billion, up from $1.5 billion in the same period last year, and well above analysts’ consensus forecast for $2.2 billion. Operating cash flow, excluding Deepwater Horizon payments, was $5.4 billion, an increase of $1 billion from last year.