BP Commits $1.4 Billion To . . . Buying Its Own Stock, In Visionary Step Towards Sustainability

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BP will hand shareholders a surprise dividend increase, and $1.4bn (£1bn) in share buybacks, after the company returned to profit after a rebound in oil prices which it believes could last for the rest of the decade. The oil giant predicted that the world’s demand for oil will reach pre-pandemic levels by the second half of next year, and lifted the value of its oil reserves by $3bn after revising its forecasts for oil prices higher for the rest of the decade.

However, it lowered its longer-term forecasts to take account of governments quickening the pace towards their climate targets.

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The company, which is one year into a plan to transform from an oil major to an “integrated energy company”, expects the price of Brent crude to average $60 a barrel over the rest of the year, up from its previous forecast of $55 a barrel, and remain at this level until the end of the decade to reflect “near-term supply constraints” in the global market.

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The BP chief executive, Bernard Looney, promised last year to increase low-carbon investments eightfold by 2025, and tenfold by 2030, while cutting the company’s fossil fuel output by 40% from 2019 levels as part of his plan to reinvent BP as a “net zero carbon” business by 2050. The oil company has built a pipeline of 21 gigawatts of renewable energy projects, including plans for two large offshore windfarms in UK waters, and has divested $10bn worth of oil and gas assets.

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" . . . built a pipeline of 21 gigawatts". IOW, announcements, plans, vaporware.


https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/aug/03/bp-buy-shares-oil-price-profits-forecasts