Oil giant BP, which is at the centre of a green energy revolution on Teesside, says it is committed to its turnaround strategy, despite revealing a huge hit to its profits.
The company took a £20.4 billion hit from its decision to ditch its stake in Russian oil giant Rosneft, plunging it to a £18.4 billion replacement cost loss for the first three months of the year after booking a hefty impairment charge for its near-20% stake in the oil producer, which it co-owned with the Kremlin.
But it's update showed that with the one-off charge stripped out, underlying replacement cost profits more than doubled to £5 billion, up from £2.1 billion a year ago thanks to the soaring cost of crude.
Read more: Commitment to Teesside as energy giant bp outlines major projects
It unveiled plans to invest up to £18 billion into the UK energy system amid mounting Government pressure to help with the cost-of-living crisis and growing calls for a windfall tax on oil and gas firms.
Bernard Looney, chief executive of BP, said: “In a quarter dominated by the tragic events in Ukraine and volatility in energy markets, BP’s focus has been on supplying the reliable energy our customers need.
“Our decision in February to exit our shareholding in Rosneft resulted in the material non-cash charges and headline loss we reported today.
“But it has not changed our strategy, our financial frame or our expectations for shareholder distributions.”
Secretary of State for International Trade Anne-Marie Trevelyan said BP’s profits will help the company transition towards clean energy.
She said the firm had been one of the “leading companies” to move towards a cleaner future and therefore “they need profits to invest in the new energies of the future”.
She told BBC Breakfast: “BP’s profits will be able to enable them to continue to do what is an enormous transition programme towards clean energy.
“The reality is if we strip away their profits, we will not be able to do what is the most important thing, [which] is to invest in those clean energies of the future which will also enable us to come away from our reliance on foreign energy.”
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