BP bows to investor pressure as it abandons plans to cut oil output

BP has been facing increasing pressure from investors and stakeholders to cut down its green ambitions and to stay within the more profitable fossil fuels sector. Environmental groups are angry.

Oil giant BP is reportedly giving up its target to reduce its oil production in the next five years as part of a change of strategy, more of which will be revealed early next year.

Previously, the company had said it was working towards slashing oil and gas production by 25% by the end of the decade.

That figure was already a cut back from a former target set in 2020 aiming for a 40% cut back in oil and gas production by 2030.

Under the 25% reduction target, BP would have been producing around 2m barrels of oil a day by 2030.

However, it has been facing increasing pressure from investors and stakeholders calling for the company to cut down its green ambitions, and stay within more profitable and familiar oil and gas territory.

This has been exacerbated following the Russia-Ukraine war, which has led to bumper profits for a number of oil and gas companies worldwide.

As such, the latest move is expected to go a long way in boosting profits and regaining investor confidence, especially for smaller investors such as Bluebell Capital Partners.

This has not gone down well with environmental groups, which have accused BP of putting its own profits before global green goals.

Philip Evans, senior climate campaigner at Greenpeace UK, was reported as saying: “It’s clear that [CEO Murray] Auchincloss is hell-bent on prioritising company profits and shareholder wealth above all else as extreme floods and wildfires rack up billions of dollars in damages, destroying homes and lives all over the world.”

BP also has three new Iraqi oil projects in the pipeline, as well as the Tiber and Kaskida projects in the Gulf of Mexico.

BP and Iberdrola tie up for biggest green hydrogen plant in Spain

Although BP is not likely to reduce its oil and gas businesses, it still has a number of green projects, on which it has spent billions. One of these is the biggest green hydrogen plant in Spain, which is a 50:50 joint venture with Iberdrola.

The green hydrogen project will go a long way in helping decarbonise BP’s refining facilities in Castellón and is estimated to start operations in 2026.

Felipe Arbelaez, BP’s senior vice president of Hydrogen and Carbon Capture Storage (CCS), said in a press release: “BP’s first investment decision for an industrial scale project is an important step forward for our hydrogen business. We are focused on value, progressing only the best projects in our portfolio that can create additional value through integration and fully meet our investment hurdles.

“This also demonstrates the strength of partners combining their strengths to advance a nascent energy source that has the potential to play a meaningful role in decarbonising the industry. Castellón refinery can lead the way with its transformation.”

Millán Garcia-Tola, Global Director of Hydrogen in Iberdrola, also said: “This partnership with BP and our project is another step in Iberdrola’s firm and real commitment to promote green hydrogen as a key vector for industrial decarbonisation.”