Rosneft exit leads to $20bn Q1 loss for bp

bp reported a Q1 loss of $20.4bn which it attributed primarily to the exit of its 19.75% shareholding in Rosneft and associate businesses in Russia.

Rosneft aside, bp's underlying profits totalled $6.2bn, exceeding analysts' forecasts, and a significant jump on the $4bn profit in Q4 2021.

CEO Bernard Looney said the quarter was dominated by the tragic events in Ukraine and volatility in energy markets.

"Our decision in February to exit our shareholding in Rosneft resulted in the material non-cash charges and headline loss we reported today," he said.

"But it has not changed our strategy, our financial frame, or our expectations for shareholder distributions. Importantly bp continues to perform and step-by-step we are making progress executing our IEC strategy - producing resilient hydrocarbons to provide energy security while investing with discipline in the energy transition."

Since the start of 2022, bp announced the start-up of the Herschel Expansion major project in the Gulf of Mexico; signed a final agreement with Eni to create Azule Energy a new independent joint venture in Angola; and advanced its strategy in biofuels producing sustainable aviation fuel at bp's Lingen refinery, and entering into a long-term strategic offtake and market development agreement for low-carbon biofuels feedstock with Nuseed. 

It recently launched an EV charging strategy with Volkswagen Group and plans to invest £1bn in the UK over the next decade; another tie-up involves a global strategic convenience partnership with Uber, aiming to make more than 3,000 retail locations available on Uber Eats by 2025; and it has teamed up with DHL Express to supply sustainable aviation fuel. 

In low carbon energy, it increased its position in offshore wind with the ScotWind lease option award of 1.45GW net; agreed to form an offshore wind partnership with Marubeni; and advanced its hydrogen strategy, announcing plans to develop H2-Fifty, a 250MW gross green hydrogen plant in Rotterdam and signing an agreement to form a joint venture with Aberdeen City Council to develop a hydrogen hub.

bp to invest £18bn in UK

bp intends to invest up to £18bn in the UK’s energy system by the end of 2030, demonstrating bp’s firm commitment to the UK, and helping the country to deliver on its bold ambitions to boost energy security and reach net zero, it confirmed today.

It appears to be a pre-emptive move to fend off the prospect of a UK windfall tax on oil majors, as businesses and consumers struggle to pay escalating bills during the energy crisis.

bp said it anticipates paying up to £1bn in taxes for its 2022 North Sea profits, on top of around £0.25bn that it has paid annually in other taxes in the UK in recent years.

Looney said: “We’re backing Britain. It’s been our home for over 110 years, and we’ve been investing in North Sea oil and gas for more than 50 years. We’re fully committed to the UK’s energy transition – providing reliable home-grown energy and, at the same time, focusing on the drive to net zero. And we have ambitious plans to do more and to go faster. Our plans go beyond just infrastructure - they see us supporting the economy, skills development and job opportunities in the communities where we operate. We are all in.” 

These projected investment figures are in addition to bp’s significant operating spend in the UK. In 2019, prior to the pandemic, an estimated 0.5% of UK GDP was supported by bp’s activities. 

The UK projects in which bp is looking to invest - and the wider activities supporting them - include:

North sea energy

• Developing lower emission oil and gas projects to support near term security of supply, for example, at the Murlach, Kate and Mungo fields around the bp-operated ETAP hub in the central North Sea and the Clair and Schiehallion fields West of Shetland.
• Investing in exploration around its existing North Sea hubs.
• Progressing asset electrification projects in the Central North Sea and West of Shetland to further reduce operational emissions and supporting the North Sea Transition Deal.

Offshore wind energy

• In partnership with EnBW:
  • Developer of two 60-year offshore wind leases in the Irish Sea (combined potential generating capacity of 3GW).
  • Developer of a lease option (potential generating capacity of 2.9GW) off the east coast of Scotland in the ScotWind round.
  • Together, these three areas could generate enough energy to power over six million UK homes every year.
• Investing in infrastructure, ports, harbours and shipyards, including the construction of four ships to support the offshore wind projects across the UK, subject to technical and commercial due diligence. These new-builds are anticipated to involve an investment of more than £100m and would be expected to support 500 associated jobs. 
• Committing more than £1 million, as part of the successful ScotWind bid with EnBW, to X-Academy in Scotland in a five-year deal, supporting both reskilling experienced workers and the creation of entry-level energy transition roles.
• Making Aberdeen bp’s global operations and maintenance centre of excellence for offshore wind and creating up to 120 new direct jobs.

EV charging

• Planning to invest £1bn in electric vehicle charging in the UK over the next 10 years - bp's largest-ever EV charging expansion - approximately tripling the number of bp’s UK charging points by 2030 and deploying more rapid and ultra-fast chargers in key locations. The investment is expected to support hundreds of new jobs in the UK. 

Hydrogen

• Planning to create two large-scale hydrogen production facilities:
  • H2 Teesside (blue)
  • HyGreen Teesside (green)
• Together, aiming to produce 1.5GW of hydrogen by 2030 - 15% of the UK government’s 10GW target by 2030. 
• H2 Teesside could create more than 600 operational jobs and another 1,200 construction jobs by 2027. 
• bp has also signed an agreement with Redcar & Cleveland College in Redcar, Teesside, to support green skills and education initiatives on Teesside.

Carbon Capture and Storage

• Leading the Northern Endurance Partnership, to serve the East Coast Cluster (ECC). The ECC has recently been named as one of the UK’s first CCS projects and aims to remove nearly 50% of all UK industrial cluster CO2 emissions.
• Leading Net Zero Teesside Power (NZT Power) which could be the world’s first commercial scale gas-fired power station with carbon capture - with the ‎potential to deliver enough low carbon, flexible electricity to power around 1.3mn homes. 
• NZT Power could support more than 3,000 jobs during construction and over 1,000 jobs once operations begin. 

Aberdeen energy investment

• Working with Aberdeen City Council in a joint venture to deliver a scalable green hydrogen production, storage and distribution facility powered by renewable energy.
• Partnering with the local authority to support their ambition for Aberdeen to become a climate positive city.
• Working with the Port of Aberdeen on decarbonisation projects.

Retail network development

• Continue to develop bp's retail network across the UK, providing advanced fuels and market-leading convenience, through its partnership with M&S Food. There are more than 1,200 bp-branded retail sites in the UK, including around 300 operated directly by bp.