On 8 March bp published its Annual Report 2023 and Net Zero Ambition Progress Update and a week later came its Sustainability Report 2023. We would likely need a dozen more pages to even summarise the reports here, so it’s best that those who want to read all the details can do so at bp.com.
In short, bp is making good progress. As Murray said in a recent ‘Reimagining energy’ article ‘Growing the value of bp’ available on bp.com: “The destination stays the same – from international oil company to integrated energy company, IOC to IEC. We’re confident in our strategy, and plan to deliver it as a simpler, more focused, higher-value company.”
In 2023 bp continued to make progress against its targets to 2025 – through a resilient hydrocarbons business, as well as demonstrating scale and value in low carbon energy and accelerating growth in convenience and mobility.
From major oil and gas project start ups, to the expansion of its EV charging network in the US, UK and Iberia, and progress in low carbon energy, for example, the agreement to acquire the remaining 50.03% interest in Lightsource bp, bp’s performance in 2023 included:
- Oil and gas production growth of 2.6%, underpinned by strong growth from bpx energy and good management of its base business.
- bp-operated refining availability for the full year was 96.1%, up from 94.5% in 2022.
- The start of four major oil and gas production projects – Mad Dog Phase 2 in the US, KG D6 MJ in India, Tangguh expansion in Indonesia and Seagull in the UK.
- Strong underlying year-on-year growth in its convenience gross margin.
- EV charge points up to 35% globally, energy sold up 150%.
- Biogas supply volumes up 80%, biofuels production up 18%.
- 21.1GW net growth in its renewables pipeline and 1.1mtpa net growth in its hydrogen pipeline.
As regards bp’s Net Zero Ambition Progress Update, its destination is unchanged: to be a net zero company by 2050 or sooner and help the world get to net zero too. In 2023:
- bp reduced its operational emissions by 41% since 2019. It remains ahead of its 2025 target of 20% emission reductions and continues to lay the groundwork for sustained decarbonisation.
- On reducing methane, bp maintained its methane intensity at 0.05% and completed the implementation of its methane measurement approach across its upstream oil and gas assets.
Returning to Murray’s ‘Growing the value of bp’ article, he said: “This is a great company with great people. We’ve got a history of being involved in and building integrated value chains for delivering energy. That experience and capability, and our track record, give us a lot of confidence in what we’re doing, and over the past four years, we’ve learned a lot and adapted along the way. That’s made us stronger, more confident in the growth we have coming, and more convinced about the value we can create. I think there are only a few companies in the world that can do this at scale, and bp is one of them.”