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 [...]
Rosebank: Britain’s future ‘not in more oil and gas’, energy minister warns February 4, 2025 The UK’s future “does not lie in more oil and gas”, an energy minister has told MPs, just days after a court ruled against consent for two new fields in the North Sea. A judge last week upheld a legal challenge by environmental campaigners against the decision to grant consent to two new oil and [...]
Shell’s profit drops on weaker refining margins October 31, 2024 Shell’s earnings fell slightly last quarter after profit margins declined at its refining business amid weaker global demand for oil. The oil and gas giant said adjusted earnings were $6.03bn (£4.65bn), down from $6.2bn during the same period last year. However, the figure comfortably beat a company-provided analyst consensus of $5.4bn (£4.1bn) and Shell confirmed [...]
BP beats estimates despite lower oil prices October 29, 2024 FTSE 100 oil giant BP has reported strong-than-expected earnings for the third quarter. On Tuesday, it posted an underlying replacement cost profit, used as a proxy for net profit, of $2.3bn (£1.8bn) for the three months to 30 September. The figure beat analyst expectations of $2.1bn (£1.6bn), according to an LSEG-compiled consensus. However, the figure [...]
Neo Energy slows down £900m North Sea project due to windfall tax September 2, 2024 One of the North Sea’s largest oil and gas project has been plunged into uncertainty after its operator announced it was slowing down investment in light of “fiscal and regulatory uncertainty”. Neo Energy had planned to start work on the £900m Buchan project – expected to produce a peak of 35,000 barrels of oil a [...]
Future of Rosebank in doubt as UK drops challenge to judicial review August 29, 2024 The future of Britain’s largest untapped oil field, Rosebank, has been thrown in to doubt after the new government said it would not challenge a judicial review. The decision affects the field which is just off the Shetland Islands, as well as Jackdaw, another untapped site 150 miles east of Aberdeen. Legal challenges against the [...]