British oil giant BP announced annual results on Tuesday buoyed by oil prices, accompanied by large distributions to its shareholders and a slowing of the pace of its energy transition, much to the chagrin of environmentalists.
BP saw its profit without exceptional items, the indicator most followed by the markets, more than double in one year to 27.7 billion dollars, an absolute record, after the rise in oil and gas prices driven in particular by the war in Ukraine. Investors cheered: BP rose 5.61% to 505.20 pence on the London Stock Exchange shortly before 12:00 GMT.
The result published shortly after that of Shell, which last week announced its highest profit in history in 2022, with 42.3 billion dollars, and the spectacular figures of its US rivals ExxonMobil and Chevron, fuel calls for greater taxation in the midst of the crisis of the cost of living . 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, due to an accounting charge of more than $24 billion related to with the exit of the Russian Rosneft – this still to be finalized.
$16 billion increase in investments in low carbon energy… 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 that could reach 8,000 million dollars in low-carbon energy and the same amount in oil and gas. As a result, BP expects its oil and gas production to decline less rapidly than expected: it will be 25% lower in 2030 than in 2019, whereas it previously expected to have cut it by 40% by the end of the year. the decade.
However, “we continue to believe that our ambition and our targets, taken together, are consistent with the goals of the Paris agreement,” which seeks to limit global warming, BP CEO Bernard Looney said during a meeting with a conference. of analysts. The company chief argued in particular that BP is now more ambitious in its goal to reduce emissions from its operations: they must be 50% carbon neutral by 2030, but Bernard Looney admitted that 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, is now criticizing 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 on Tuesday a 10% increase in its fourth-quarter dividend, as well as a new share buyback program for $2.75 billion. Redistributions to shareholders exceeded $14 billion by 2022. Amid 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 the oil giants more.
The UK government introduced in May, then increased to 35% later in the year, a tax on one-off energy profits, as did the EU which adopted a “temporary solidarity contribution” at the end of September. BP said on Tuesday that the British exceptional tax weighed in 2022 to the tune of $1.8 billion in its accounts, and the European contribution to the tune of $505 million.
The company was recently accused of delaying the departure of concrete from Russia, saying in December it was “complex” to divest its 19.75% stake in Rosneft. “We remain actively engaged in the sale of our stake (…) and will inform the market in due course,” Bernard Looney repeated Tuesday.
Source: BFM TV
