Bp will write down green assets by $4-5 billion, oil and gas revenues fall
From the adjustments to the fourth quarter financial statements, the British major does not expect an impact on profits. Meanwhile, net debt is reduced thanks to divestments, but the group's revival remains a challenge
Green' activities are weighing more and more heavily on the shoulders of Bp, which has anticipated write-downs of up to USD 5 billion in the fourth quarter 2025 budget for businesses related to the energy transition. All this while Oil&Gas is also giving less satisfaction, due to the sharp fall in prices that characterised the year just ended.
In short, the British company continues to report obstacles on the road to getting back on track after the strategic mistakes of the past, which have forced it to catch up with its major competitors. Put under pressure by the activist fund Elliott Investment Management (for about a year its second largest shareholder, with over 5% of the capital), Bp announced last December a new change at the top, with the exit just two years after the appointment of Murray Auchincloss, - who had launched a "reset" of the group, to refocus it on hydrocarbons and put the accounts back in order - and the entrusting of the ceo appointment to Meg O'Neill, manager today at the helm of Australia's Woodside, who will take the helm of Bp in April, succeeding interim ceo Carol Howle.
The task also looks challenging for O'Neill, even though Bp has to some extent climbed the slope, recovering a capitalisation roughly equal to that of its closest rival, Shell, often referred to by rumours as its potential buyer.
Bp did not specify which assets are affected by the write-down - which will be between USD 4 billion and USD 5 billion - but made it clear that the transaction will not impact earnings and that it will 'mainly' affect the group's low-carbon gas and energy division. The latter includes the hydrogen business (including the H2Teesside project in the UK, which Bp cancelled in December) , those relating to the capture and sequestration of CO2 and those in the photovoltaic sector, in turn grouped together in Lightsource: a company for which Bp has been searching since last March for a partner to take over a stake of at least 50 per cent. The wind power business has instead already been spun off into a separate joint venture.
Earnings for the fourth quarter - due to be published on 10 February - could, on the other hand, be affected by the slowdown in trading activities, which in turn is linked to the situation in the energy markets, which recorded a further drop in hydrocarbon prices in the last three months of 2025. Bp reports that during the period - with production remaining stable - its gas sales were between EUR 100 million and EUR 300 million lower than in the previous quarter, while for oil the drop was between EUR 200 million and EUR 400 million.
