BP Retreats from Renewables, Returns to Oil & Gas
This week, BP announced that it would boost oil and gas production and cut investments in green energy. The declining British energy company plans to focus on pumping more oil in the U.S. and the Middle East.
The Wall Street Journal reports,
“BP’s shares have lagged behind those of rivals Shell, Exxon Mobil and Chevron since the company took the most aggressive steps by an oil major to shift toward lower-carbon sources of energy in 2020. That bet backfired when fossil-fuel consumption roared back after the early days of the pandemic and prices rocketed when Russia invaded Ukraine.”
After years of underperforming its peers, BP will increase oil and gas spending to $10 billion a year,
“BP said it would increase oil-and-gas investment to about $10 billion a year, with the aim of boosting daily output to up to 2.5 million barrels by 2030, from just over 2.3 million last year. Under its previous plans, BP intended to cut output to 2 million barrels a day by the end of the decade. Its earlier Covid-era strategy had initially penciled in production as low as 1.5 million barrels daily. Now, BP says it could keep pumping more oil through to 2035.”
Investing in the oil and gas industry is investing in the future. BP’s decision to ramp up oil and gas production underscores the undeniable reality: the world still relies on fossil fuels.
February 24, 2025