BP’s new strategy is “exciting”, said chief executive Murray Auchincloss at one point during Wednesday’s long City presentation. Did the stock market agree? Hardly. Even after he ditched the climate goals, and vowed to pray solely at the altar of shareholder value, the shares fell by 1.4% on a day when the FTSE 100 index was up. The rotten share price, down by almost a quarter in the past two years, is a very long way from being “fundamentally reset”.
The strategic U-turn itself, one can agree, is far-reaching. A company that until recently was still mouthing (just softly) former boss Bernard Looney’s old 2020 refrain about “reimagining energy for people and our planet” has relegated investment in low-carbon energy to 5% or less of the overall budget. Even that portion will need to be “underpinned by government support”, the finance director emphasised. And, having bought full control of solar developer Lightsource only last year, BP now wants to find a partner to share the capital load.
