by Irina Slav at Oil Price.com
- BP, Shell, Exxon, and Chevron are boosting fossil fuel investments after disappointing returns on green energy ventures.
- BP is increasing oil and gas spending by 25% and Shell is prioritizing LNG growth.
- U.S. supermajors stayed the course and are now outperforming.
Ever since BP admitted that its attempt to go green had ended in a disaster, the flow of news from the energy industry has been in one single direction: back to oil and gas, which make money. Indeed, Big Oil has finally accepted it will not transform into Big Green Power and has gone back to what it does best: hydrocarbons.
In late February, when it made its very unsurprising admission, BP said it would boost spending on oil and gas production by 25% annually while slashing investments in transition-related business by 70%. The new strategy did not come easily to BP’s leadership, by the way. It came as the result of a pressure campaign from activist investor Elliot Management, which called BP out on its unrealistic expectations from the transition gamble.
As part of turnaround plans, the supermajor eyes launching an impressive 27 new oil and gas projects over the next five years, the FT reported in an overview of the company’s midterm strategy, noting, however, that even with these projects, BP’s 2030 oil and gas production will be slightly lower than its 2019 production—per plans. The important bit, however, is that it will not be reducing this production as it previously intended to do amid its green pivot.
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Now, while BP has made no special mention of…