The profit of the British company has more than doubled in one year to reach more than 27 billion dollars. However, BP’s oil and gas production is expected to fall only 25% in 2030 compared to 2019, far from the set target of 40%.
British oil giant BP on Tuesday announced annual results boosted by oil prices, accompanied by large distributions to its shareholders, and slowing the pace of its energy transition, to the chagrin of environmentalists.
BP saw its profit excluding exceptional items, the indicator most followed by the markets, more than double over one year to 27.7 billion dollars, an absolute record, in the wake of the rise in oil and gas prices driven in particular by the war in Ukraine. Investors cheered: BP climbed 5.61% to 505.20 pence on the London Stock Exchange shortly before 12:00 GMT.
The result released shortly after that of Shell, which last week announced its highest ever profit in 2022, at $42.3 billion, and the spectacular figures of its American rivals ExxonMobil and Chevron, fuel calls for higher taxation in the midst of a cost of living crisis. But the conflict in Ukraine has also weighed heavily on the group, which has seen its net income fall into the red: the group’s net loss has reached 2.5 billion dollars, due to an accounting charge of more than 24 billion dollars. dollars related to the exit of the Russian Rosneft – this still to be finalized.
$16 billion increase in investments in low-carbon energies… and hydrocarbons
BP also announced on Tuesday that it intended to boost its profits by 2030 by investing more in both renewables and hydrocarbons, which will slow the pace of its energy transition. The group thus foresees an increase in investments until 2030 which could reach 8 billion dollars in low-carbon energies and as much in oil and gas. As a result, BP expects its oil and gas production to decline less quickly than expected: it will be 25% lower in 2030 than in 2019, whereas it previously hoped to have reduced it by 40% at the end of the year. end of the decade.
Despite record results, BP “is backtracking on its recent climate promises,” Friends of the Earth lamented in a statement.
However, “we continue to believe that our ambition and our objectives, taken together, are consistent with the objectives of the Paris agreement”, which aims to limit global warming, assured BP CEO Bernard Looney during a meeting. a conference of analysts. The boss of the company notably argued that BP is now more ambitious in its objective to reduce its emissions in its operations: these will have to be 50% carbon neutral by 2030, but Bernard Looney admitted that this would be “more difficult” to achieve this given the increase in investments in oil and gas.
Greenpeace, which a year earlier praised “the most ambitious of the oil giants” for its transition, now castigates commitments “undermined by pressure from investors and governments to make even more dirty money from oil and gas”.
Nearly $15 billion redistributed to shareholders
In fact, BP announced Tuesday a 10% increase in its dividend for the fourth quarter, as well as a new share buyback program of 2.75 billion dollars. Redistributions to shareholders exceeded $14 billion for 2022. In the midst of an economic crisis, such largesse is fueling criticism. “More than half” of BP’s profits “go directly to super-rich shareholders, while millions of people cannot even afford to heat their homes”, denounces the NGO Global Justice Now, which calls for taxing plus the oil giants.
The British government introduced in May, then increased at the end of the year to 35%, a tax on exceptional energy profits, just like the EU which adopted a “temporary solidarity contribution” at the end of September. BP said on Tuesday that the exceptional British tax weighed in 2022 to the tune of 1.8 billion dollars in its accounts, and the European contribution to the tune of 505 million.
The company was recently accused of delaying the concrete exit from Russia, and it indicated in December that it was “complex” to get rid of its 19.75% share in Rosneft. “We remain actively engaged in the sale of our stake (…) and we will inform the market in due course”, repeated Bernard Looney on Tuesday.