bp to cut oil and gas production by 40% as it shifts towards net zero
bp has published a new strategy to reshape its business as it pivots from being an international oil company to an “integrated energy company”.
Within 10 years, the company aims to have increased its annual low carbon investment 10-fold to around $5 billion a year, building out an integrated portfolio of low carbon technologies, including renewables, bioenergy and early positions in hydrogen and CCUS.
Over the same period bp says it will also aim to develop around 50GW of net renewable generating capacity – a 20-fold increase from 2019. The company said its oil and gas production is expected to reduce by at least one million barrels of oil equivalent a day, or 40%, from 2019 levels. Its remaining hydrocarbon portfolio is expected to be more cost and carbon resilient.
As part of the company’s net zero ambition, bp is aiming for emissions from its operations and those associated with the carbon in its upstream oil and gas production to be lower by 30-35% and 35-40% respectively, by 2030.
Helge Lund, Chairman, bp said, “Energy markets are fundamentally changing, shifting towards low carbon, driven by societal expectations, technology and changes in consumer preferences. And in these transforming markets, bp can compete and create value, based on our skills, experience and relationships. We are confident that the decisions we have taken and the strategy we are setting out today are right for bp, for our shareholders, and for wider society.”
Responding to the announcement, Mel Evans, senior climate campaigner for Greenpeace UK, said: “BP has woken up to the immediate need to cut carbon emissions this decade. Slashing oil and gas production and investing in renewable energy is what Shell and the rest of the oil industry needs to do for the world to stand a chance of meeting our global climate targets. BP must go further, and needs to account for or ditch its share in Russian oil company, Rosneft. But this is a necessary and encouraging start.”
