BP on Tuesday said it was boosting spending on oil and gas as much as it will on what it calls “transition growth engines,” a sign of both the pushback energy giants have received for their moves into the renewable energy space as well as the need for energy security and affordability.
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“It’s clearer than ever after the past three years that the world wants and needs energy that is secure and affordable as well as lower carbon – all three together, what’s known as the energy trilemma,” said CEO Bernard Looney in a statement.
BP said it’s targeting “shorter-term, fast-payback” projects in oil and gas, that won’t need much new infrastructure. BP still expects oil and gas production to decline, but not by as much — excluding production from Russia’s Rosneft, which it walked away from, BP expects 2030 production to be 25% lower than it was in 2019, compared to a previous estimate of 40% lower.
Oil and gas production is expected to rise to 2.3 million of oil equivalent barrels by 2025 but fall to around 2 million in 2030.
The spending change was announced alongside fourth-quarter results, as BP profits swelled to $10.8 billion from $2.3 billion in the year-ago quarter. What it calls its underlying replacement profit rose to $4.81 billion from $4.07 billion, coming up shy of analyst estimates of $5 billion.
That profit increase was driven by higher prices. BP received $82.23 per barrel equivalent for the oil and gas it produced in 2022, up from $55.65 in 2021. BP said it was increasing its dividend by 10% and boosting its share buyback authority by $2.75 billion.
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BP says its own production will be broadly flat in both the first quarter and for the year.
BP’s profit for the year was $27.7 billion on an adjusted basis. According to the Wall Street Journal, BP along with Exxon Mobil XOM,
