BP Scraps Target of Reducing Oil Production by 2030

Oil major BP has scrapped its goal of reducing oil and gas production by the end of the decade, angering environmental groups who say the company is prioritizing profits over the planet.

According to three sources who have knowledge on the matter, BP CEO Murray Auchincloss scaled back the company’s energy transition plans in order to regain investor confidence, reported Reuters.

“As Murray said at the start of the year in our fourth-quarter results, the direction is the same but we are going to deliver as a simpler, more focused and higher-value company,” a spokesperson for BP said, as The Times reported.

In 2020, BP unveiled an ambitious strategy to reduce its production by 40 percent, while quickly ramping up renewables by 2030, reported Reuters. In February of 2023, the London-based company pared back the reduction goal to 25 percent, as investors concentrated on near-term profits instead of the energy transition.

In 2022, the oil giant recorded record profits of $28 billion, The Guardian reported.

“It’s clear that Auchincloss is hell-bent on prioritising company profits and shareholder wealth above all else as extreme floods and wildfires rack up billions of dollars in damages, destroying homes and lives all over the world,” said Philip Evans, senior climate campaigner of Greenpeace UK, as reported by The Guardian.

Agathe Masson, Reclaim Finance’s stewardship campaigner, said BP was prioritizing its own output over taking action to help fight the climate crisis.

“BP might be happy to see the planet burn in the name of profits, but investors must take a longer view and reject this climate-wrecking strategy,” Masson said.

Last year, the oil company invested $2.5 billion in renewables, hydrogen, biofuels and EV charging. It has six gigawatts of UK offshore wind investments, as well as government backing for a $5.2 billion carbon capture project.

In June, BP froze all its new offshore wind projects in the face of investors who were dissatisfied with its green energy targets.

BP is currently looking at new investments in the Gulf of Mexico and the Middle East to ramp up its output of oil and gas, according to the sources, as Reuters reported.

Auchincloss became CEO at the start of the year, but has not been able to stop the falling shareholder price of the company, leading investors to question BP’s ability to turn a profit under its current strategy.

The company has kept its goal of net zero by 2050.

While Auchincloss will not present the updated plan to investors until February, the sources said BP has already abandoned the 2030 production goal in practice.

“Most oil and gas majors have consistently failed to invest enough into transition technologies, setting targets and making claims that have often been abandoned or debunked,” said James Alexander, UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association’s chief executive, as reported by The Guardian. “The transition will not wait for them. The gap they have left is already being filled by renewables companies.”