{"id":245529,"date":"2026-01-15T05:41:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T05:41:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/245529\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T05:41:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T05:41:15","slug":"bp-takes-4bn-5bn-hit-on-green-energy-business-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/245529\/","title":{"rendered":"BP takes $4bn-$5bn hit on green energy business \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

BP<\/a> has acknowledged for the first time that its struggling green energy<\/a> businesses are worth far less than previously thought, and will wipe $4-$5 billion (\u20ac4.3 billion) off their value, taking its cumulative writedowns in the past two years to about $20 billion.<\/p>\n

The FTSE 100 energy major said last April that its belief in a fast transition to clean energy had been \u201cmisplaced\u201d and that it would now refocus on oil and gas.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, it said it would write down primarily its \u201ctransition businesses\u201d by $4-$5 billion. While BP has spun off its wind energy business into a stand-alone joint venture with Japan\u2019s Jera, it has so far failed to attract a new partner for Lightsource, its solar arm. It has been trying to sell at least 50 per cent of Lightsource since last March.<\/p>\n

BP has also cancelled several hydrogen projects, including a hydrogen and carbon capture project in Teesside in northeast England, the Duqm Green Hydrogen project in Oman and a huge hydrogen hub in Pilbara, Australia.<\/p>\n

Analysts at RBC Capital Markets said BP\u2019s total writedowns since the start of 2023 would stand at about $20bn, assuming a $4.5 billion impairment for its green businesses.<\/p>\n

The writedown will not affect BP\u2019s underlying profits when it posts its results on February 10. BP did not comment on whether the move was the final writedown that investors could expect on its struggling green businesses. BP\u2019s share price fell 1.6 per cent, taking its market value to \u00a367 billion (\u20ac77 billion).<\/p>\n

\"\"Ireland\u2019s record tax take makes light of Trump tariffs fear<\/p>\n

The company has been radically scaling back clean energy after a \u201cfundamental reset\u201d unveiled by Murray Auchincloss, its previous chief executive, last April.<\/p>\n

The move saw BP\u2019s shares outperform many of its peers last year, but Mr Auchincloss himself abruptly departed just before Christmas.<\/p>\n

Several people familiar with the situation suggested that BP\u2019s chair, Albert Manifold<\/a>, had grown impatient at the slow pace of decision-making at the company. BP has appointed Meg O\u2019Neill, the former chief executive of Australian energy company Woodside, as its new chief executive from April.<\/p>\n

In a largely downbeat trading statement, the company said its gas sales in the fourth quarter would be $100-$300 million lower than in the previous quarter, its crude sales would be $200-$400 million weaker, and that its oil and gas production was flat. It said its refining margins would be $100 million higher than in the previous quarter, but that oil trading \u201cis expected to be weak\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, BP said its net debt, a persistent cause of concern for investors, would be $3bn-$4bn lower in the fourth quarter than in the previous quarter, and that its divestments would be about $5.3bn by the end of the year, compared with previous guidance of \u201cabove $4 billion\u201d. BP has also now sold a stake in Castrol, its lubricants business, and pledged to use the $6bn proceeds to reduce its debt further. \u2013 Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BP has acknowledged for the first time that its struggling green energy businesses are worth far less than…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":201977,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[106676,11501,246,61,60,3400,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-245529","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-albert-manifold","9":"tag-bp","10":"tag-environment","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-renewable-energy","14":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245529"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245529\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}