BP to slash spending on net zero ventures as it focuses on oil and gas again

A setback for the green energy industry as British energy giant BP announces it's slashing future spending on its net zero transition business plans by billions of dollars.

British energy company BP confirmed Wednesday that it would slash spending on green ventures and increase its oil and gas production, a change in direction that it hopes will bolster its flagging share price but has been met with incredulity from climate action campaigners.

In a statement titled “Reset BP,” the company said it will be cutting spending on its net zero transition business plans by about $5 billion per year.

Future spending will be significantly lower, totaling between $1.5 billion and $2 billion per year.

By contrast, BP said it would increase its investments in oil and gas production by about 20% to $10 billion.

CEO Murray Auchincloss said that the company is focusing its spending on BP’s “highest-returning businesses to drive growth” and that it will be “very selective” in its investments in renewables.

“This is a reset BP, with an unwavering focus on growing long-term shareholder value,” he said.

The strategy represents a pullback from the company’s much-vaunted plan five years ago, under then CEO Bernard Looney, to shrink oil and gas production in favor of net zero businesses.

Auchincloss told investors after the release of the update that the company’s faith in the green energy transition was “misplaced” and that the company went “too far, too fast” in recent years. Demand for oil and gas, he added, will be “needed for decades to come.”