Oil and gas giant After posting record annual profits of $27.7 billion last year, BP has revised its aim to stop producing fossil fuels by 2030. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, gas prices skyrocketed, boosting the company’s profits.
According to The Guardian, BP now intends to boost its oil and gas production over the next seven years. other energy firms experiencing windfalls.
Despite the fact that many are still having trouble paying their energy bills, Shell announced $40 billion in profits last week, according to BBC News. There are calls for an increased windfall tax on businesses.
According to Paul Nowak, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, millions of people struggle to heat their homes and put food on the table while BP is laughing all the way to the bank.
BP CEO Bernard Looney had the plan to move the company away from oil and gas and towards renewable energy sources, but the company has since announced it will increase its annual budget for both fossil fuels and renewable energy sources by $1 billion each, focusing more on the development of hydrogen and biofuels, according to Reuters.
BP’s current plan to cut oil production is less aggressive than its prior one, with a 25 percent reduction from 2019 levels as opposed to a 40 percent reduction.
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Plans by the company to cut consumer gasoline emissions from 35 to 40 percent to 20 to 30 percent have also decreased. It continues to aim for net zero by 2050.
BP’s energy transition operations, such as renewable energy and charging stations for electric vehicles, already account for around 30% of its budget, up from 3% in 2019.
You cannot claim to be in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement to combat climate change if the majority of your investments are still linked to fossil fuels, and you even intend to increase those investments, said Mark van Baal, founder of activist shareholder group Follow This, as quoted by Reuters.
According to Looney, it wouldn’t be shocking if BP’s UK tax bill exceeded $3 billion this year because the corporation paid $3.60 for every $4.80 in North Sea revenues, according to The Guardian.
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According to Looney, who was quoted by The Guardian, “we’ve either paid all the money we’ve made in the North Sea away in taxes or put it back into Britain over the last three years.”
BP said that it would be increasing the quarterly dividend payout by 10% and repurchasing $2.75 billion of its own shares in order to distribute more of its profits to its shareholders. In 2022, BP paid its shareholders more than $14 billion.
