Bernard Looney

My days at this time of year sometimes begin with a cold – and consistently slow – morning run. But not today. I was in a TV studio, talking through our results for 2021 and the real progress we’re making to transform bp into an integrated energy company.
 
The results show that as we transform the company for tomorrow, we continue to perform today: reducing our net debt, growing returns and delivering distributions to shareholders. 
 
And while doing that, we’re investing for the future. In two years, we’ve delivered 11 major hydrocarbons projects, almost doubled our EV charging points, quadrupled our renewables pipeline and built a portfolio of significant hydrogen opportunities.
 
All this means we can now accelerate plans to seize the energy transition’s huge opportunities. We’re aiming to increase investment in transition businesses to more than 40% of bp’s capex by 2025 – yes, over 40% in a few years! Driven by five transition growth engines – bioenergy, convenience, electrification, renewables and hydrogen - we are aiming to generate earnings of $9-10bn from these businesses by 2030.
 
Over the same time – our fantastic hydrocarbons team plans to sustain earnings through the end of the decade – while maintaining a constant focus on safety, emissions, cost and productivity – giving us the cashflows and the confidence to lean into the future.  All while helping provide the world with the energy it needs.
 
With this renewed confidence we are accelerating the greening of bp – pushing for more emissions reductions. And uniquely among our peers - we’re now aiming for net zero across our sales, as well as our operations and production. 
 
Plenty to be positive about. But I’m mindful too that many households and businesses around the world are struggling with rising living costs – including higher energy bills.  Our teams are working hard to keep producing energy to meet demand and ease some of the pressure. So a big thank you to them. They’ve done so amid massive change and uncertainty within bp over the past two years.
 
But with our direction set and our reorganisation behind us - our sole focus now is on the safe, efficient delivery of our strategy. So, today we’ll take a moment to reflect on what I think is some awesome progress. Tomorrow we will get up and do it all again – and try to do it even better! And I need to do that run! 😊  
 
If you have the time, you can find out more about our results, strategy and aims here: https://on.bp.com/3osd0R9

#bpnetzero

I’m certainly not used to an audience of 10,000 – but having the chance to talk to our company each week on a global webcast is part of our new virtual world that I am enjoying! With so many joining live, and many others watching on replay – it’s creating a great sense of community at bp.

Our three aims during this period remain simple: protect our people, support our communities and strengthen the financial health of the company.

And it’s our people that are delivering under the most stressful circumstances – like keeping our retail stations safe and open even amid the risks of COVID-19.

I’ve also seen the most incredible initiatives in the communities where we work. That’s everything from using our retail network as collection points to support local foodbanks to deploying our supercomputer to help speed up medical research on the virus.

But for all of those positives - this remains a brutal business environment. We saw it in the negative oil price this week. That’s not just unprecedented – it is staggering.

We’ll update more on our business on Tuesday next week when we announce our first quarter results.

Until then - wishing you all good health.

It’s really been an extraordinary day! I want to thank the hundreds of you who came to our event. And the thousands who watched online. Thank you for listening to our net zero ambition and vision for a new bp.

I can’t possibly reply to everyone but I want you to know I am reading everything. And thank you for the helpful comments. Some people have very real concerns and I understand. I do. We will try to address some of these in the weeks and months ahead. In truth we may not agree on everything. But that’s ok. We are where we are today because of challenge. You’ve made us better. I believe in dialogue. Thanks for helping.

I first met Melissa when I visited our Argos platform in the US Gulf of Mexico last year. She’s a Project Integration Engineer - and kindly gave me a tour of the facility.
 
I love visits like these – and I probably asked her every question under the sun – but I was most struck by her passion and commitment to the team.
 
Engineering runs in Melissa’s blood. As the daughter of two engineers, she tells me it was never a question of if she would be an engineer, but when.
 
She first started with us on our Thunder Horse platform – before working in Alaska – and now back in the Gulf of Mexico.
 
Her engineering instinct is unmistakeable – she tells me that the best solution isn’t always the most obvious. But like any excellent engineer, she seeks out the solution no matter what.
 
Her work on our Argos platform is helping bp deliver the energy the world needs by bringing high-margin oil and gas online in the regions we know best.

And I know – thanks to Melissa’s tour – that the design of the platform is intended to maximise energy efficiency and minimise methane emissions. It’s very impressive!
 
In the future, Melissa hopes to transfer her skills to new areas of our company – to help with the big challenges of the energy transition. I am confident she’ll be finding solutions for some time to come 😊

There is nothing I want to do more right now than see our people across bp. And while I can’t go physically, I have started to do some virtual visits. It’s a chance to see everyone on the frontline of our operations – not quite eye to eye – but at least screen to screen.

Our teams are in the thick of it right now – including our UK retail business. We’re offering free fuel for emergency service vehicles and free delivery of goods from some of our stores.

And talking with the team I could see that this has created a lot more demands on them. Naturally – that is creating challenges.

To help, we’re working to boost precautions with more cleaning, more personal protective equipment for staff and implementing social distancing in our stores.

I also dropped in on an “e-coffee break” with our Air BP team in France (pictured). The country has been badly affected by COVID-19.

We discussed how everyone was doing and their family lives. The team is used to being at the office in an open space where they can see each other – and even that change can affect our mindsets at work.

This is a time of great change and disruption. I've found patience is key. After all - everyone is human with their own challenges – especially now.

From the leadership team to the frontline – brilliant women are leading bp’s transformation. And International Women's Day is a chance to celebrate them.

Today I’m in Houston (always a treat for me 😊) – so I’ll be marking IWD by meeting with our US and Gulf of Mexico teams, hearing their stories and asking how we can do more.

Thanks to the hard work of many people across bp, including the leadership team – we’re making a lot of progress, supporting and empowering women. I’m particularly pleased that we’ve risen up the rankings in this year’s FTSE 100 Women Leaders Review – up to 5th place, from 12th last year.

As of last year, bp’s leadership team now has more women than men in it. It’s a great step in the right direction – a sign that the best people are getting the roles they deserve. But we want – and need – to do more. Our global gender ambition is for women to hold half of our top 120 leadership roles by 2025 and half of the next level of leadership by 2025. And by 2030 – or sooner – we’re aiming for women to occupy at least half our senior leader roles and 40% of every other level of bp.

We have some way to go on that – we’re still not where we want to be. But we’re heading in the right direction – and I can't wait to see what's next.

#InternationalWomensDay2023

When we launched our #bpNetZero ambition back in February 2020, we told the world our purpose would be to reimagine energy. And Jonathan is doing just that.

His job for bp is to work out and develop clean energy business models of the future.

Born in Kampala, Uganda and raised in Glasgow, Scotland - he says those experiences makes him uniquely placed to do his job. (I love this pic of him as a kid in the snow!)

He has fond memories of his holidays back to Uganda - to his grandparents’ village - throughout his childhood. Away from the city, there was no electricity or running water.

Those trips sowed the seeds of Jonathan’s passion for energy. And today, he’s developing solar minigrids – bPOWERd - that can charge rentable batteries to help power communities off the grid.

It’s ideas like these that he explores to make into commercial ventures – but he also thinks about the bigger picture and how we tie it together with the rest of bp.

He tells me: “We want to build integrated energy solutions. It’s not just about giving a customer an electric vehicle charger – we ask if we can provide the energy for that charger. Or if we can provide the batteries or solar power to your home. It’s about assessing the wider system and integrating it all.

“Above all else I feel passionate about making these changes in energy myself – I’m not waiting on anybody else!”

With drive like that, I look forward to seeing where Jonathan's ideas take us next 😊
 
You can see his ideas in action here: https://www.bpowerd.com/

Anyone that knows me, knows that I love a stat. And boy does our busiest EV charging station at Hammersmith in London have some impressive ones – here it is in action!

In just one day, we sold almost 2250kWh of electricity – that’s enough to power an EV from London to Berlin 10 times over 🤯 And that’s just the start. Because we don’t all have the space to charge at home, bp’s investing heavily in high-speed charging for people on-the-go.

It’s all part of the plan to triple the size of our bp pulse network by 2030 and make charging as fast and convenient as possible.

We’ve been reflecting on 2021 this week at bp, and during our internal company webcast I shared this message with our people to thank them for their hard work. What a year it’s been!
 
Wishing you all a very safe and happy holiday season - and best wishes for 2022 😊

A year ago today, we launched our new company purpose and #bpNetZero ambition. In the spirit of reflection, I’ve blogged about ten areas that have spurred us on over the last 12 months, from beginning our reinvention, diversifying bp and supporting our communities.

Of course, #greening companies like ours have a long way to go. But as we begin year two of our transformation, I am even more energised and determined to reach our ambition.

Day by day, it becomes clearer that we are on the right path. And not just because our people are motivated by this. But because it’s a tremendous business opportunity. Everything is aligning for us to do good for people and our planet.

Thank you to the countless people who have supported us. You make us better.

Check out my full #1YearOn blog on bp.com: https://on.bp.com/3qdgdD2

At the moment, we’re living in a worried world. We’re all concerned about how coronavirus will affect us and those we love. People are concerned about when they’ll next see their families, finances, job security, sometimes even the basics of life – like food and groceries. And the question I get asked often “will life ever go back to normal?” When you sum it all up – there’s a lot on people’s plates right now – sometimes too much.

With all these pressures on people, we’re going to start supporting Mind, the UK mental health charity. We will help them promote a major appeal for funds. And we are donating to that appeal, too, with what we believe to be one of the biggest charitable donations bp has ever made.

My blog explains in more detail why we want to help.

#InThisTogether
#MentalHealth
#MentalWellbeing

On Monday, I headed out to Washington State to visit Cherry Point, our state-of-the-art refinery in the Northwest corner of the US. And it couldn’t have been a better time to go, as Cherry Point celebrates its 50th birthday this year.

David Lawler and I met people throughout the refineries – our engineers, project managers and operators – these are the people who truly run our company. 

They couldn’t work from home during the pandemic – they had to continue showing up at the refinery, producing the energy we all need.

The incredible teams that lead our innovative projects make Cherry Point one of our core assets. And that’s why this week, we announced a $269 million investment into the refinery across three projects.

And we’re investing because as we move towards our net zero ambition, refineries like Cherry Point can play a key role. We must continue to produce the energy our economy needs whilst lowering our emissions – and Cherry Point is an example of how we will do that – and do it profitably.

Our latest investment will double our renewable diesel production, improve the refinery’s efficiency and reliability, and enhance its infrastructure – helping reduce its CO2 emissions by 7% annually.

That’s 160,000 tons of emissions saved each year - equivalent to 32,000 cars off the road - while at the same time creating over 300 local jobs. And these investments are not just good for the environment – they’re good for the bottom line.

As it celebrates 50 years of operations, Cherry Point shows no sign of slowing down. Chris, one of our managers, told me, “Thanks for the investment – we won’t let you down.” 

As we look forward to the next 50 years, I have every faith that they won’t.

And just like that… we’re more than a quarter of the way through the year. So much has happened. In February, bp announced we’re leaning further into our strategy, helping the world solve the trilemma of secure, affordable and lower carbon energy. We’re planning to invest up to $8bn more into oil and gas than we were a year ago (from 2023 to 2030). And up to $8bn more into our five transition growth engines by 2030 over the same period.

I’ve posted about the recent start-up of Argos, our fifth platform in the Gulf of Mexico – an amazing achievement that's all down to the teams’ incredible work. And 2023 has also seen massive progress in our transition growth engines:

1 We signed an EV-charging agreement with Uber to help accelerate their switch to electric vehicles 🔌

2 We got the go-ahead to develop our first floating demonstration offshore wind project in Scotland 🌬️

3 Our three low carbon projects in the UK’s Teesside – including 2 focussing on hydrogen – have been selected to move to the next phase of development.

4 We’re growing our US convenience footprint and opened our first four ampm stores on the East Coast 🛒

5 And over in biofuels – our teams are hard at work planning our five new biofuel production projects.

This is only the start… we’ve increased our investment in our transition growth engines from around 3% of our spending in 2019 to around 30% last year, and at the same time we’re continuing to deliver the energy the world needs right now. Across oil & gas – and our transition growth engines, our teams are delivering what we said we would. Just awesome 😊