- World can't 'waste time' trading climate change blame: COP29 hosts
- South Korean same-sex couples make push for marriage equality
- Mumbai declares day of mourning for Indian industrialist Ratan Tata
- 7-Eleven owner restructures to fight takeover
- Sri Lanka recovering faster than expected: World Bank
- Hong Kong, Shanghai rally as most markets track Wall St record
- Uniqlo owner reports record annual earnings
- Hong Kong, Shanghai rally as markets track Wall St record
- Indonesia biomass drive threatens key forests: report
- Mumbai mourns Indian industrialist Ratan Tata
- China opens $71 bn 'swap facility' to boost markets
- Asian markets track Wall St record as Hong Kong, Shanghai stabilise
- 'Denying my potential': women at Japan's top university call out gender imbalance
- China's central bank says opens up $70.6 bn in liquidity to boost market
- Youth facing unprecedented wave of violence, UN envoy warns
- 'A casino in every kitchen': Brazil's online gambling craze
- Nobel chemistry winner sees engineered proteins solving tough problems
- Discord seen as online home for renegades
- US forecasts severe solar storm starting Thursday
- Ratan Tata: Indian mogul who built a global powerhouse
- One dead as storm Kirk tears through Spain, Portugal, France
- Indian business titan Ratan Tata dead at 86
- Fed minutes highlight divisions over rate cut decision
- Steve McQueen debuts new WWII film at London festival
- Nobel winners hope protein work will spur 'incredible' breakthroughs
- What are proteins again? Nobel-winning chemistry explained
- AI steps into science limelight with Nobel wins
- Overshooting 1.5C risks 'irreversible' climate impact: study
- Demis Hassabis, from chess prodigy to Nobel-winning AI pioneer
- Global stocks diverge as Chinese shares tumble
- Time runs out in Florida to flee Hurricane Milton
- Chad issues warning ahead of more devastating floods
- Creator's death no bar to new 'Dragon Ball' products
- Chinese stocks tumble on lack of fresh stimulus
- Trio wins chemistry Nobel for protein design, prediction
- Braving war: Lebanon's 'badass' airline defies odds
- US weighs Google breakup in landmark trial
- Chinese stocks tumble on stimulus upset, Asia tracks Wall St higher
- 7-Eleven owner confirms new takeover offer from Couche-Tard
- A US climate scientist sees hurricane Helene's devastation firsthand
- Can carbon credits help close coal plants?
- Boeing suspends negotiations with striking workers
- 7-Eleven owner's shares spike on report of new buyout offer
- Your 'local everything': what 7-Eleven buyout battle means for Japan
- AI-aided research, new materials eyed for Nobel Chemistry Prize
- The US economy is solid: Why are voters gloomy?
- Scientists sound AI alarm after winning physics Nobel
- Nobel-winning physicist 'unnerved' by AI technology he helped create
- Trump secretly sent Covid tests to Putin: Bob Woodward book
- Neural networks, machine learning? Nobel-winning AI science explained
BP posts record profit, dilutes green target
British energy giant BP on Tuesday announced record annual profit thanks to soaring oil and gas prices, as it watered down its target for cutting carbon emissions.
BP's underlying profit more than doubled to a record $27.7 billion last year, sparking renewed outrage from green groups and unions demanding far greater action on tackling climate change and a cost-of-living crisis.
The huge earnings mirror record profits by BP rivals after the invasion of Ukraine by major fossil-fuels producer Russia hit supplies and pushed the West into beefing up its energy security.
BP's exit from its 19.75-percent stake in Russian energy group Rosneft cost it more than $24 billion, however.
That pushed it into a loss after tax totalling $2.5 billion last year, compared with net profit of $7.6 billion in 2021.
- Emissions target -
BP on Tuesday also said its carbon emissions would not fall as quickly as anticipated.
The company expects carbon emissions from oil and gas production to fall by between 20-30 percent in 2030 compared to 2019.
This compared with its prior forecast for a drop of 25-40 percent.
"We need continuing near-term investment into today's energy system -- which depends on oil and gas -- to meet today's demands and to make sure the transition is an orderly one," said chief executive Bernard Looney.
"We will prioritise projects where we can deliver quickly, at low cost, using our existing infrastructure, allowing us to minimise additional emissions and maximise both value and our contribution to energy security and affordability."
Speaking later on an investor webcast, Looney said BP's "ambition and aims, taken together, are consistent with the goals of the Paris Agreement" which says global greenhouse emissions must drop 45 percent by 2030 to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Environmentalists hit out the strategy update.
"Not only will BP's new strategy fail to deliver much-needed energy security in the UK but it will ensure that people across the globe already battling devastating droughts, floods and heatwaves, will continue losing their lives and livelihoods," said Kate Blagojevic, Greenpeace UK head of climate justice.
"It's time to stop drilling and start making polluters... pay the price for the climate damage they are causing all around the world."
- Shareholder boost -
The record profits come as consumers face soaring heating and electricity bills, which has triggered widespread calls for energy majors to pay more tax to ease a cost-of-living crisis.
Unions and members of the opposition Labour party again called on the Conservative government to increase its windfall tax on the likes of BP and British rival Shell.
"As millions struggle to heat their homes and put food on the table, BP are laughing all the way to the bank," said Paul Nowak, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress.
"Ministers are letting big oil and gas companies pocket billions in excess profits. But they are refusing to give nurses, teachers and other key workers a decent pay rise."
Britain is facing its biggest strikes in more than a decade as public and private sector workers demand that pay increases go some way to matching sky-high inflation.
Downing Street defended the government's current windfall tax policy on energy companies -- a 35-percent additional levy on profits until 2028.
"We think we are striking the balance between funding significant cost-of-living support for families and businesses while also encouraging investment into the North Sea (oil and gas) to boost things like the UK's energy security," Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's official spokesman said.
Markets cheered BP's record underlying profits -- and huge fourth-quarter net earnings that came in at almost $11 billion.
BP's shares jumped over six percent in afternoon deals, rising to the top on London's top-tier FTSE 100 index.
Energy majors are rewarding shareholders in the form of dividend hikes and share buybacks.
BP said its fourth-quarter dividend would rise 10 percent and announced a fresh buyback totalling $2.75 billion.
Oil majors have recovered massively since posting record losses in 2020 as Covid lockdowns shut factories and grounded planes.
Y.Ponomarenko--CPN