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BP’s profits dropped in the first quarter, the Major of Petroleum said on Tuesday after announcing the removal of the executive who was responsible for the strategy during his failed pivot in renewable energy.
Weakness in gas marketing and trading was largely responsible for a decrease of 49 percent year by year in the $ 1,38BN profit in the first quarter, under the estimate of the analysts’ consensus of $ 1,64bn.
The lowest cash flow contributed to an increase of $ 4 billion in net debt since December $ 27BN.
The BP, which this year abandoned its strategy to become a green energy leader, also said one of the architects of this plan would leave the company in June. Giulia Chierchia, its strategy leader, will not be replaced, BP said.
Chierchia was not on stage in February when the BP announced it would turn to oil and gas in an attempt to revitalize its acknowledgment priced. It also recently became a target for activist investor Elliott Management, which is pushing BP for deeper costs and wants to see the company produce $ 20 billion in cash flows by 2027.
BP is the first of the energy diplomat to report its first quarter revenue, with rivals, Totalienergies and Exxonmobil all planned to publish updates later this week.
The world’s largest oil companies are linked for their most difficult year since Pandemia Covid-19, as the fall of raw prices squeeze the profits. BP is seen as the most exposed to the price of oil, which fell into a four -year low earlier this month, due to its poor balance.
Its current strategy is based on an oil price of $ 71.5 per barrel this year, while Brent Crude was trading at $ 65 per barrel on Tuesday morning.
BP did not say how it would answer the lower prices, but said it would cut its capital costs by $ 500 million per year. Chief executive Murray Auchincloss said the group will “continue to monitor market instability and changes and remain focused on moving with rhythm” with its plans.
The FTSE 100 group said it was now planning to sell at least $ 3BN to $ 4 billion asset this year and remained sure it would be able to reduce its debt at a range of $ 14 billion to $ 18 billion by the end of 2027.
Despite the weakness, the BP said it would buy $ 750 million, $ 1,75BN in the last quarter and at the end of the analyst’s range.
Major oil shares fell 3.8 percent in early trade on Tuesday and have now declined more than 13.5 percent per year, compared to a decrease of nearly 3.5 percent for the rival shell and a 3 percent increase in total.
