Proactive Investors - If it is anything like Shell’s update on Friday, BP’s first quarter numbers on Tuesday will be a low-key announcement
The upshot from Shell PLC (LON:SHEL) is that gas profits are falling following the bumper returns it saw in 2023, but otherwise, trading seems solid enough.
Something similar is likely from BP (LON:BP) though analysts at Jefferies said “Additionally, BP will be impacted by downtime at Whiting and Freeport LNG".
BP has already allocated US$3.5 billion for share repurchases in the first half of 2024 and has set its sights on executing buybacks of at least US$14 billion (£11 billion) by the end of 2025.
In other words, BP is aiming to redistribute at least 80% of its surplus cash flow back to its shareholders.
Again, quite a few billions not going towards green investments (in BP’s defence, it has been fairly candid about scaling back its green-transition targets) something that has angered its critics.
“BP's shareholders remain among the biggest winners of Russia's war in Ukraine,” Global Witness's senior campaigner Jonathan Noronha-Gant said after its previous earnings update.
"And now the firm has decided to hand that windfall to investors instead of clean energy or the victims of the war.”