Why the UK can’t get a grip of its energy crisis April 14, 2025 A months-long cost-of-living crisis, state bailouts of consumer energy bills, endless planning rows, judicial interventions and now the near-collapse of Britain’s only manufacturer of virgin steel all show different sides to the UK’s ongoing energy crisis. Its dependency on foreign imports, poor planning of infrastructure and lack of control over soaring bills means the extent [...]
Grangemouth: Green future for oil refinery needs £3.5bn, report finds March 19, 2025 Delivering a green future for the Grangemouth oil refinery will require around £3.5bn in private investment, a report has found. The long-awaited Project Willow study, which itself cost £1.5m, sets out nine options for the future of the industrial cluster in central Scotland. Hundreds of jobs are set to be lost this year when the [...]
Grangemouth: Green projects at oil refinery site could cost £13bn March 12, 2025 Plans for new green projects at the Grangemouth oil refinery site in Scotland could reportedly cost up to £13bn. A feasibility study of possible options for the site – dubbed Project Willow – has listed nine opportunities including recycling plastics and producing biomethane, to create a “flourishing low carbon hub” over the next two decades, [...]
BP CEO takes huge pay cut as profit slashed at FTSE 100 giant March 6, 2025 The chief executive of BP has taken a £2.3m pay cut as profit was slashed at the FTSE 100 giant. Murray Auchincloss received a pay packet of £5.4m for 2024, down from the £7.7m he received in 2023. The drop came amid a more than £1.1m cut to his bonus to £734,000, and a £1.6m [...]
BP ramps up fossil fuel spending and rows back on green targets February 26, 2025 BP will dial up its spending on oil and gas by $10bn (£7.9bn), slash its investment into renewable energy and offload $20bn of underperforming assets as part of a major strategic overhaul that aims to boost its beleaguered share price. In a much anticipated – and delayed – announcement from boss Murray Auchincloss, the British [...]
BP’s Net Zero push has crashed into reality February 12, 2025 I remember when I first encountered a hard copy FTSE 100 annual report. I was a first year undergraduate and my achingly left-wing lecturer in Business and Politics dropped copies in front of us in a seminar room, and asked us to rank the directors “on a fat cat scale.” I can still recall the [...]
BP to target shareholder returns as firm plans fundamental reset February 11, 2025 Oil and gas giant BP has promised to “fundamentally reset” its strategy and improve its performance after profit crashed last year. On Tuesday, the group reported a near 50 per cent decline in profit for the fourth quarter due to a collapse in profit at its refining arm. The results prompted boss Murray Auchincloss to [...]
BP shares top the FTSE 100 as Elliott stake ignites breakup chatter February 10, 2025 BP shares jumped to the top of the FTSE 100 this morning as a rumour emerged that an activist hedge fund had taken a position in the stock. Shares in the blue-chip oil giant jumped eight per cent in early deals on the news activist hedge fund Elliott Investment Management had built a position in [...]
Cut taxes for BP and Shell to protect UK from Trump’s trade war, Rachel Reeves told February 6, 2025 Oil giants such as BP and Shell who operate in the North Sea should be given huge tax breaks to help protect the UK against Donald Trump’s burgeoning trade war, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has been told. Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce is calling on the UK government to reduce the 78 per cent tax [...]
Is the government finally seeing sense on net zero? February 5, 2025 The government has realised that planes will still take off, even in a lower carbon future, so they may as well do it from Heathrow. They should apply the same logic to fossil fuels and allow drilling in the North Sea, says Will Cooling The New Year has clearly brought with it new energy from [...]