BP CEO: Recent Deals Reflect Disciplined Investment Strategy
January 17 2017 - 7:25AM
Dow Jones News
By Elena Cherney
DAVOS, Switzerland--BP PLC's (BP) recent moves to invest in oil
and natural gas fields off Africa, Egypt and in Indonesia and Abu
Dhabi highlight the company's push to be selective about new
investments as the industry recovers from the two-year price rout,
the company's chief executive said Tuesday.
Bob Dudley, speaking in an interview on the sidelines of the
World Economic Forum meeting, cited the string of deals as well as
BP's deal to buy a stake in the Trion oil field in the Gulf of
Mexico as examples of a more disciplined investment strategy.
"We'll be very selective," he said. "What we don't want to do is
lose the discipline we've built in…There are some things we're just
not doing," he said.
For example, expensive projects such as deepwater exploration
will be undertaken only if infrastructure is in place to serve
them, he said. Some of the most carbon-intensive projects, such as
Canadian oil sands, would also not meet the bar, he said.
Natural gas projects feature heavily in the company's plans as
part of a shift from oil to gas, which Mr. Dudley said is part of
the "move to lower-carbon energy."
Mr. Dudley said the company is now in a position to invest
because it has settled most of the liabilities stemming from the
fatal 2010 explosion of the Macondo platform in the Gulf of
Mexico.
Mr. Dudley added he is confident that crude oil markets are
rebalancing following agreement by the Organization of the
Petroleum Exporting Countries and non-OPEC producers to limit
production, reached late last year. He said that producers,
including Russia, who were party to the deal appear to be
respecting its terms and cutting their output.
Earlier, Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser also spoke about
investment plans, telling an audience that Saudi Arabia is building
out its capacity, as part of an investment push that is necessary
to avoiding future price spikes. "If there is no investment, prices
will spike," Mr. Nasser said.
-Write to Elena Cherney at Elena.Cherney@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 17, 2017 07:10 ET (12:10 GMT)
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