BP halves dividend after record loss in second quarter

16Views

August 4, 2020

LONDON BP cut its dividend on Tuesday for the first time in a decade after reporting a record $6.7 billion loss in the second quarter as the coronavirus crisis hammered energy demand.

The London-based company separately outlined plans to sharply reduce its oil and gas output by 2030 and boost its renewable power generation under CEO Bernard Looney’s strategy to “reinvent” BP in line with a global transition to low-carbon energy.

The net loss, which was in line with analysts’ expectations, was largely a result of BP’s decision to wipe $6.5 billion off the value of oil and gas exploration assets after it revised sharply lower its oil and gas price forecasts.

“These headline results have been driven by another very challenging quarter, but also by the deliberate steps we have taken as we continue to re-imagine energy and reinvent BP,” Looney said in a statement.

“In particular, our reset of long-term price assumptions and the related impairment and exploration write-off charges had a major impact.”

Looney, who took the helm in February, avoided a dividend cut in the first quarter of the year despite worsening market conditions.

But the 50% dividend cut to 5.25 cents per share, which was larger than the 40% cut forecast by analysts, appeared inevitable given a large debt pile, the collapse in oil and gas demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic and growing expectations for a sluggish recovery in global economic activity.

BP said in its strategy update it aimed to “reset a resilient dividend” of 5.25 cents per share per quarter and return at least 60% of future surplus cash as share buybacks

Also Watch

11 Of 30 People Who Had Come In Contact With Karnataka CM BSY Test Positive For COVID-19

It said it would increase its low-carbon spending by 2030 to $5 billion a year and boost its renewable power generation to 50 gigawatts, while shrinking its oil and gas production by 40% compared with 2019. [L8N2F61AW]

Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor

Array
(
[videos] => Array
(
[0] => Array
(
[id] => 5f290cd5fbcc0112a8a34fdb
[youtube_id] => x57SInXRS5I
BP halves dividend after record loss in second quarter => 11 Of 30 People Who Had Come In Contact With Karnataka CM BSY Test Positive For COVID-19
)

[1] => Array
(
[id] => 5f290af5db1d45129a344880
[youtube_id] => x10UoKRcv4o
BP halves dividend after record loss in second quarter => Mumbai Monsoon: Landslides Occur Across Western Express Highway, High Tide Expected Post Noon
)

)

[query] => https://pubstack.nw18.com/pubsync/v1/api/videos/recommended?source=n18english&channels=5d95e6c378c2f2492e2148a2,5d95e6c278c2f2492e214884,5d96f74de3f5f312274ca307&categories=5d95e6d7340a9e4981b2e10a&publish_min=2020-08-01T12:58:09.000Z&publish_max=2020-08-04T12:58:09.000Z&sort_by=date-relevance&order_by=0&limit=2
)

BP halves dividend after record loss in second quarter

Also Watch

Speak Your Mind

LEAVE A REPLY Cancel reply

Get in Touch

Recommend for You

Oh hi there It’s nice to meet you.

Subscribe and receive our weekly newsletter packed with awesome articles that really matters to you!

You might also like

EDITOR PICKS

POPULAR POSTS

POPULAR CATEGORY

About Us

Follow Us

Support Us & Be a Patreon

Add QNewsHub to your Homescreen!

Oh hi there
It’s nice to meet you.