British Petroleum (BP) oil has declared that, it amassed a profit of 2 billion pounds in its second quarter of the year.
The Chief Executive of British Petroleum, Bernard Looney stated that, the profit accrued explains the confidence in the company’s plans and how it has position itself for future cash flows.
The oil company announced that, it plans to increase dividends of shareholders by 10% to 2.3 billion pounds, though, it couldn’t achieve its targeted profit. It additionally claimed that, about 1.5 billion pounds would be spent on investor via share buyback in the next three months.
However, climate activists have been irked by the news, labelling the activities of oil and gas companies, as the main cause of the recent heatwaves across Europe.
After British Petroleum took a $25 billion compensation as a result of its decision to vacate the Russia market, activists have acussed BP of benefitting from the Russia-Ukraine war. Looney however, has refuted such claims by the activists.
The Chief Executive asserted that, its operations would contribute to stability of “the energy system of today and the transition to the energy system of the future.”
Looney further expounded that, delaying oil project investments in the face of increasing consumption of energy as expected in 2023, runs the risk of igniting an oil market surge comparable to the record gas prices last year.
This prompted a sudden shift to the use of coal in Germany and other regions in Europe, leading to a spike in carbon dioxide emissions.
“What I believe is that the world needs a rapid and orderly transition. And ‘orderly’ is not an excuse for ‘slow’.”
Chief Executive of British Petroleum, Bernard Looney.
According to British Petroleum, the company’s 6.8 billion pounds investment in the shores of Germany, illustrates the company’s goal to invest enormously in bioenergy, electric vehicle charging, wind and solar power, and hydrogen before the decade comes to a close.
“I think what we’re doing is incredible, and it’s very difficult to challenge,” he continued.
According to Global Witness, a London based NGO, BP’s multibillion-dollar shareholder rewards stands in contrast to the millions of families forced into fuel deprivation by the surge in worldwide oil costs.
Jonathan Noronha-Gant, a senior campaigner at Global Witness, claimed that, British Petroleum has taken advantage from the recent global energy crisis to amass cash.
“This is what a broken energy system looks like, oil giants get richer because the rest of us get poorer. For BP, the energy crisis has been a giant cash grab; for parents across the country it has been an impossible choice between feeding their children and paying their bills.”
Jonathan Noronha-Gant, Campaigner at Global Witness.
Also, Tommy Vickerstaff, a lead UK campaigner for 350.org, said the government has turned a blind eye to climate issues.
“We’re almost desensitized to BP’s profits at this point because the government has continuously failed to take action to redistribute them. But there is nothing normal or routine about BP’s profit margins or about the destructive heatwaves we’re seeing across Europe that BP is directly responsible for causing.”
Tommy Vickerstaff.
According to report released by the Institute of Public Policy Research, the repurchase of share constitute a direct financial shift from already struggling people to extremely rich investors, at the detriment of the environment.
“For every £1 BP spent on ‘low carbon investments’ they gave shareholders £9 in buybacks”
Pranesh Narayanan, Research Fellow at IPPR.
Since last year where they had a surge, the market prices of oil and gas have plunged globally. After Russia invaded Ukraine, global oil price was pegged averagely at $76.60 a barrel in the last quarter, down sharply from an average of about $112 a barrel in the second quarter of last year.
