Oil giant BP ups dividend and confirms share buybacks as it posts better-than-expected quarterly profit

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4 years ago

August 3, 2021

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BP logos are seen at a BP petrol and diesel filling station southeast of London on June 15, 2020.

BEN STANSALL | AFP | Getty Images

LONDON — Oil and gas giant BP beat second-quarter earnings expectations on Tuesday, while expanding its dividend and share buyback program.

The U.K.-based energy major said it will buy back $1.4 billion of its own shares in the third quarter on the back of a $2.4 billion cash surplus accrued in the first half of the year.

It also anticipates buybacks of around $1 billion per quarter and an annual dividend increase of 4% through 2025, based on an estimated average oil price of $60 per barrel.

The energy major posted full-year underlying replacement cost profit, used as a proxy for net profit, of $2.8 billion. That compared with a loss of $6.7 billion over the same period a year earlier and $2.6 billion net profit for the first quarter of 2021.

Analysts polled by Refinitiv had expected second-quarter net profit of $2.06 billion.

The results reflect a broader trend across the oil and gas industry as energy majors seek to reassure investors they have gained a more stable footing amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The British-Dutch multinational Royal Dutch Shell, France’s TotalEnergies and Norway’s Equinor all announced share buyback schemes last week.

Share prices of the world’s largest oil and gas majors are not yet reflecting the improvement in earnings, however, and the industry still faces a host of uncertainties and challenges.

Shares of BP are up almost 15% year-to-date, having collapsed roughly 47% in 2020.

BP’s financial results come after a period of stronger commodity prices. International benchmark Brent crude futures rose to an average of $69 a barrel in the second quarter, up from an average of $61 in the first three months of the year.

Oil prices have rebounded to reach multi-year highs in recent months and all three of the world’s main forecasting agencies — OPEC, the International Energy Agency and the U.S. Energy Information Administration — now expect a demand-led recovery to pick up speed in the second half of the year.

It comes after a 12 month period which BP has described as “a year like no other” for global energy markets.

In its benchmark Statistical Review of World Energy, published on July 8, BP said that over the past seven decades the company had borne witness to some of the most dramatic episodes in the history of the global energy system. These crises included the Suez Canal crisis in 1956, the oil embargo of 1973, the Iranian Revolution in 1979 and the Fukushima disaster in 2011.

“All moments of great turmoil in global energy,” Spencer Dale, chief economist at BP, said in the report. “But all pale in comparison to the events of last year.”

The ongoing Covid-19 crisis triggered a historic oil demand shock in 2020, with Big Oil companies enduring a brutal 12 months by virtually every measure. The pandemic coincided with falling commodity prices, evaporating profits, unprecedented write-downs and tens of thousands of job cuts.

Analysts told CNBC ahead of the latest batch of second-quarter earnings that while energy companies were likely to try to claim a clean bill of health, investors were expected to harbor a “tremendous degree” of skepticism about the long-term business models of oil and gas firms. This was predominantly a result of the deepening climate emergency and the urgent need to pivot away from fossil fuels.

Environment

US solar tops 11.7 GW in a huge Q3 despite political roadblocks

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4 hours ago

December 9, 2025

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US solar tops 11.7 GW in a huge Q3 despite political roadblocks

The US solar industry just delivered another huge quarter, installing 11.7 gigawatts (GW) of new capacity in Q3 2025. That makes it the third-largest quarter on record and pushes total solar additions this year past 30 GW – despite the Trump administration’s efforts to kneecap clean energy.

According to the new “US Solar Market Insight Q4 2025” report from Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and Wood Mackenzie, 85% of all new power added to the grid during the first nine months of the Trump administration came from solar and storage. And here’s the twist: Most of that growth – 73% – happened in red states.

Eight of the top 10 states for new installations fall into that category, including Texas, Indiana, Florida, Arizona, Ohio, Utah, Kentucky, and Arkansas. Utah jumped into the top 10 this quarter thanks to two big utility-scale projects totaling more than 1 GW.

But the report also flags major uncertainty ahead. Federal actions, including a July memo from the Department of the Interior (DOI), have slowed or stalled the approvals pipeline for utility-scale solar and storage. Without clarity on permitting timelines, Wood Mackenzie’s long-term utility-scale forecast through 2030 remains basically unchanged from last quarter.

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“This record-setting quarter for solar deployment shows that the market is continuing to turn to solar to meet rising demand,” said Abigail Ross Hopper, SEIA’s president and CEO. She added that strong growth in red states underscores how decisively the market is shifting toward clean energy. “But unless this administration reverses course, the future of clean, affordable, and reliable solar and storage will be frozen by uncertainty, and Americans will continue to see their energy bills go up.”

Two new solar module factories opened this year in Louisiana and South Carolina, adding a combined 4.7 GW of capacity. That brings the total new US module manufacturing capacity added in 2025 to 17.7 GW. With a new wafer facility coming online in Michigan in Q3, the US can now produce every major component of the solar module supply chain.

“We expect 250 GW of solar to be installed from 2025 to 2030,” said Michelle Davis, head of solar research at Wood Mackenzie and lead author of the report. “But the US solar industry has more potential. With rising power demand across the country, solar could do even more if current constraints were eased.”

SEIA also noted that, following an analysis of EIA data, it found that more than 73 GW of solar projects across the US are stuck in permitting limbo and at risk of politically motivated delays or cancellations.

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Environment

It’s happening: Chevy Spark EUV production kicks off in Brazil

Published

6 hours ago

December 9, 2025

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It's happening: Chevy Spark EUV production kicks off in Brazil

Chevy Spark EUV Production Officially Begins In Brazil

The spiritual successor to the beloved Chevy Geo Tracker, production of the new-for-2026 electric Spark EUV has officially begun in Brazil with more than 200 miles of range.

That’s right, kids. To know the Chevy Tracker is to love the Chevy Tracker. The tiny, top-heavy Suzuki-based SUV combined bold colors, fun styling, (relatively) good fuel economy, and real off-road chops (especially in ZR2 trim) with an affordable price tag to make the Tracker an early favorite among the serious rock-crawling crowds.

Like, really

2001 Chevy Tracker; via Harry Situations.

While it’s still too early to tell whether or not the all-new Chevy Spark EUV will come even close to that little proto-SUV, it seems we won’t have to wait much longer to find out – GM Authority reports that production of the 2026 Chevy Spark EUV has officially begun at Comexport’s Planta Automotiva do Ceará (PACE) plant, in the state of Ceará, Brazil.

GM Brazil invested the equivalent of $73 million to get the PACE factory ready to assemble GM’s modern, zero-emissions Chevy crossover for the South American and Middle Eastern markets – an investment big enough to earn a visit from Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who was on-hand for the December 3rd kickoff event.

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“It’s not a car factory,” said Comexport Vice President and PACE shareholder, Rodrigo Teixeir. “(The) goal is to develop technology there, not simply assemble a vehicle.”

Production of the new Spark EUV began last week, with production of the equally new Chevy Captiva EV set to begin as early as Q1 of 2026.

2026 Chevy Spark EUV

The Made in Brazil Chevrolet Spark EUV is heavily based on the Chinese Baojun, and is powered by that vehicle’s single 75 kW (101 hp), 180 Nm (130 lb-ft) motor driving the front wheels. Power comes from the Baojun’s 42 kWh LFP battery that, with regenerative braking, is good for up to 360 km (220 miles) on the NEDC driving cycle.

Weirdly, the new Spark is also equipped with a 10.1″ infotainment screen and 8.8″ digital instrument cluster (above) that supports both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto standard – technology that GM claims lead to “unsafe” driver behaviors in North America.

Let us know what you think of the little electric SUV, and whether or not you think it would be a hit in the US (it would) in the comments.

SOURCE: GM Authority; images by GM, Harry Situations.

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Environment

Trump ban on wind power projects overturned by federal judge

Published

8 hours ago

December 9, 2025

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Trump ban on wind power projects overturned by federal judge

Power generating wind turbines tower over the rural landscape on July 5, 2025 near Pomeroy, Iowa.

Scott Olson | Getty Images

A federal judge on Monday struck down President Donald Trump’s sweeping ban on new wind power projects in the U.S., a major victory for an industry that has been singled out by the White House since the administration’s first day.

Judge Patti Saris of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts ruled that Trump’s ban is “arbitrary and capricious and contrary to law,” tossing out the president’s action in its entirey.

Trump issued a memorandum on Jan. 20 halting permits and leases for offshore and onshore wind farms, pending federal review. Saris said that federal agencies had failed to provide a reasoned explanation for such a drastic change in U.S. policy.

Seventeen states led by New York Attorney General Letitia James sued Trump in May to overturn the president’s ban. They argued that it created “an existential threat to the wind industry.”

“This is a big victory in our fight to keep tackling the climate crisis and protect one of our best sources of clean, reliable, and affordable energy,” James said in a post on social media platform X.

States in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic in particular have been pursuing offshore wind projects to meet future energy demand as they seek to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions.

White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said in a statement that “offshore wind projects were given unfair, preferential treatment while the rest of the energy industry was hindered by burdensome regulations.”