The new strategy represents a stark shift from the investment plan put forward five years ago by the former chief executive Bernard Looney, who promised to shrink its oil and gas production to about 1.5m barrels a day and make BP a net zero energy company by 2050.
Matilda Borgström, a campaigner at climate action group 350.org, said: “This move by oil giant BP clearly demonstrates why super-rich corporations and individuals, chasing short-term profit for themselves and shareholders, cannot be trusted with fixing the climate crisis or leading the transition to renewable energy we so badly need.
“Pumping money into more oil and gas increases the risk of climate impacts for us all, flies in the face of legal climate targets, and with the renewables sector growing exponentially is a big risk to the shareholders that BP is so keen to please.”.
BP will abandon its green ambitions by increasing its oil and gas investment to $10bn a year as part of a fundamental reset of the troubled company’s strategy.
BP has lost almost a quarter of its market value in the past two years while the market value of its rivals Shell and Exxon has increased while they pursue greater oil and gas production.
