BP to slash spending on net zero ventures as it focuses on oil and gas again

LONDON (AP) — British energy company BP confirmed Wednesday that it would slash spending on green ventures and increase its oil and gas production, a change in direction that it hopes will bolster its flagging share price but has been met with incredulity from climate action campaigners.

In a statement titled “Reset BP,” the company said it will reduce its spending on net zero transition businesses by $5 billion a year to up to 2 billion. By contrast, it said it would increase its investments in oil and gas production by about 20% to $10 billion.

CEO Murray Auchincloss said that the company is focusing its spending on BP’s “highest-returning businesses to drive growth" and that it will be “very selective" in its investments in renewables.

“This is a reset BP, with an unwavering focus on growing long-term shareholder value," he said.

The strategy represents a pullback from the company's much-vaunted plan five years ago, under then CEO Bernard Looney, to shrink oil and gas production in favor of net zero businesses.

Auchincloss told investors after the release of the update that the company’s faith in the green energy transition was “misplaced” and that the company went “too far, too fast” in recent years. Demand for oil and gas, he added, will be “needed for decades to come."

However, he said renewables still pose a “significant opportunity” and confirmed that the company still wants to meet net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

“Global carbon emissions need to be reduced, and as well as looking for more energy, countries, companies and customers are looking for lower carbon products and services to support their own decarbonization objectives," he said.

The update is clearly aimed at bolstering investor support in light of the company's flagging share price.

So far, the update doesn't appear to have appealed to investors, and the company's share price was down 1.4% in mid-afternoon Wednesday trading. However, the retreat may represent some profit-taking on the part of investors following a rally in recent weeks on speculation that the company was about to change tack.

The company's stock underperformance against its peers over the past few years such as Shell, ExxonMobil and Chevron, has stoked market speculation that BP may move its share listing to New York from London, or even make it a takeover target.

The influential U.S. hedge fund Elliott Management recently took a nearly 5% stake in BP, and it is believed that it has sought to push BP back towards fossil fuels to boost profit.

Auchincloss has already spun off BP’s offshore wind business in a joint venture while he's looking to offload its onshore wind arm. The group has also been slashing costs in the face of tougher trading. Recently, it announced it would cut more than 5% of its workforce.

BP's change of strategy is facing sharp criticism from environmental campaigners, who had previously warmed to the company's insistence that the future was green.

“This move by oil giant BP clearly demonstrates why super-rich corporations and individuals, chasing short-term profit for themselves and shareholders, cannot be trusted with fixing the climate crisis or leading the transition to renewable energy we so badly need," said Matilda Borgström, U.K. campaigner at climate action group 350.org.

“Pumping money into more oil and gas increases the risk of climate impacts for us all, flies in the face of legal climate targets, and with the renewables sector growing exponentially is a big risk to the shareholders that BP is so keen to please,” she added.