BP committed to transition pathway, despite loss
CEO Bernard Looney is confident the business is bouncing back from pandemic impact even though profitable renewables projects remain hard to source
BP filed its first annual loss in a decade—of $5.7bn—for the 2020 financial year, reversing its $10bn profit for 2019. But the company is confident it will bounce back from the pandemic, having already swung back into the black by Q4, and says its restructuring for decarbonisation is already paying off. Investors do not have the same confidence. Bernard Looney, CEO of BP, previously described the firm’s hydrocarbons division as the engine room of the business and said that, overall, BP would deliver earnings growth out to 2025 with returns of 8-10pc. But the company has declined renewables projects that do not meet its threshold of returns, making at least one firm, bank JP Morgan, doubt it
Also in this section
22 July 2025
Sinopec hosts launch of global sharing platform as Beijing looks to draw on international investors and expertise
22 July 2025
Africa’s most populous nation puts cap-and-trade and voluntary markets at the centre of its emerging strategy to achieve net zero by 2060
17 July 2025
Oil and gas companies will face penalties if they fail to reach the EU’s binding CO₂ injection targets for 2030, but they could also risk building underused and unprofitable CCS infrastructure
9 July 2025
Latin American country plans a cap-and-trade system and supports the scale-up of CCS as it prepares to host COP30
