BP abandons oil and gas pledge as it prepares to target Middle East
BP has reportedly abandoned its target to cut oil and gas production by 2030 as its new chief executive scales back a switch to green energy to boost its share price.
Murray Auchincloss, who took over from Bernard Looney in January, is expected to focus on ploughing new money into projects in the Middle East and the Gulf of Mexico to boost output.
It marks a further withdrawal from green energy after BP reduced its pledge to cut oil and gas production from 40pc to 25pc, which would have meant it was still producing 2m barrels of oil a day at the end of the decade.
Shares in BP rose as much as 1.3pc following the report by Reuters.
Mr Auchincloss is under pressure from investors to boost returns amid a slump in BP’s share price, which has fallen by almost 20pc over the past year.
The BP boss has sought to distance himself from his predecessor Mr Looney, who quit last year after claims he had lied to the company’s board over relationships with colleagues.
Mr Looney had set out the most ambitious decarbonisation pledge across the energy sector in 2020, but these commitments have unwound since Mr Auchincloss took over.
A BP spokesman said: “As Murray said at the start of year ... the direction is the same – but we are going to deliver as a simpler, more focused, and higher value company.”
It emerged last month that the company was plotting a $2bn (£1.5bn) sale of its American onshore wind energy business, BP Wind Energy, which has interests in 10 onshore wind farms across seven US states, in a bid to put greater focus on its solar energy ambitions.
BP also announced it would go ahead with the development of a complex reservoir in the Gulf of Mexico more than a decade after the Deepwater Horizon disaster that killed 11 people and triggered the worst oil spill in history.
BP is currently in talks to invest in three new projects in Iraq, including one in the Majnoon field, and is considering investing in the redevelopment of fields in Kuwait, according to Reuters.
In August, BP signed an agreement with the Iraqi government to develop and explore the Kirkuk oilfield in the north of the country, which will also include building power plants and solar capacity.
London-listed rival Shell has also scaled back its energy transition strategy since chief executive Wael Sawan took charge in January, selling power and renewable businesses and scrapping projects including offshore wind, biofuels and hydrogen.