BP posts record profits as it scales back climate targets

AS petrol prices in the UK and abroad are reported to be once again on the rise, British petroleum company, BP, has unsurprisingly recorded record profits.

The news has raised calls from many for oil companies to be hit with far larger windfall taxes, as small businesses and households struggle with increasing energy bills. The picture for motorists has been rosy recently, with petrol prices widely falling for the first time since before the invasion of Ukraine. As we reported earlier this week though, that trend looks to be coming to an end, as analysts predict a rise in the cost we pay at the pumps.

BP profits - UK petrol prices

In response, BP stated its global tax bill sat at $15 billion, $2.2 billion of that coming from the North Sea. That $2.2 billion includes a UK windfall tax of $700 million, which is an amount that some MPs feel is just too low. MPs are now calling for the energy profits levy (another name for the windfall tax) to be revamped, so it can offer the UK public slightly less of a raw deal.

According to the Independent, BP’s chief executive, Bernard Looney, claimed that the record sums were bolstered by the “lowest production costs in 16 years.” Going on to say that BP continues “delivering for our shareholders – with buybacks and a growing dividend. This is exactly what we said we would do and will continue to do – performing while transforming,” he said.

That transformation might not be in the way many environmental campaigners would have hoped, as the firm announced it would be scaling back its climate goals. Looney announced that its carbon emissions from oil and gas production would fall by between 20 and 30 percent compared to 2019. It had previously targeted a 35 to 40 percent decrease.