{"id":579889,"date":"2026-02-10T13:08:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T13:08:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/579889\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T13:08:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T13:08:12","slug":"bp-suspends-share-buyback-plan-in-fresh-sign-of-oil-price-pressure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/579889\/","title":{"rendered":"BP suspends share buyback plan in fresh sign of oil price pressure"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Trowbridge in Somerset, England, on March 15, 2025.<\/p>\n<p>Anna Barclay | Getty Images News | Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>British oil giant <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/quotes\/BP.-GB\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">BP<\/a> on Tuesday posted fourth-quarter profit in line with expectations and suspended share buybacks, seeking to shore up its balance sheet as lower crude prices take their toll.<\/p>\n<p>The London-listed energy firm reported underlying replacement cost profit, used as a proxy for net profit, of $1.54 billion for the final three months of 2025. That matched analyst expectations of $1.54 billion, according to an LSEG-compiled consensus.<\/p>\n<p>BP&#8217;s full-year 2025 net profit came in at $7.49 billion, missing analyst expectations of $7.58 billion. That&#8217;s down from nearly $9 billion in 2024. <\/p>\n<p>BP said the board decided to suspend the share buyback and fully allocate excess cash &#8220;to accelerate strengthening&#8221; of its balance sheet. The firm&#8217;s previous buyback was $750 million and was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2025\/11\/04\/bp-earnings-q3-2025.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">announced<\/a> alongside third-quarter results in November.  <\/p>\n<p>For the fourth quarter, the company announced a dividend per ordinary share of 8.320 cents.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;2025 was a year of strong underlying financial results, strong operational performance, and meaningful strategic progress,&#8221; Carol Howle, BP interim CEO, said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We have made progress against our four primary targets &#8211; growing cash flow and returns, reducing costs, and strengthening the balance sheet &#8211; but know there is more work to be done, and we are clear on the urgency to deliver,&#8221; she added.<\/p>\n<p>Woodside Energy boss Meg O&#8217;Neill is scheduled to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2025\/12\/18\/woodside-energys-meg-oneill-to-replace-murray-auchincloss-as-bp-ceo.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">take the reins at BP<\/a> on April 1, following Murray Auchincloss&#8217; decision to step down late last year.<\/p>\n<p>Shares of BP fell nearly 4% during early afternoon deals, paring some of its losses from earlier in the session.<\/p>\n<p>Some other earnings highlights included:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>BP&#8217;s fourth-quarter net debt came in at $22.18 billion, down from around $23 billion in the same period last year.<\/li>\n<li>Fourth-quarter operating cash flow came in at $7.6 billion, up from $7.43 billion a year ago.<\/li>\n<li>BP set its 2026 capital expenditure budget at $13 billion to $13.5 billion, reflecting the lower end of its guidance range. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The results come at a tough time for Europe&#8217;s oil and gas sector. <\/p>\n<p>Oil prices notched their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2026\/01\/02\/oil-edges-higher-following-biggest-annual-loss-since-2020.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">biggest annual loss<\/a> since the Covid-19 pandemic last year, partly due to oversupply concerns, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2026\/02\/03\/oil-earnings-shell-bp-equinor-totalenergies-dividends-buybacks.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">ratcheting up the pressure<\/a> on Big Oil&#8217;s commitment to shareholder returns. <\/p>\n<p>BP&#8217;s industry rivals <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/quotes\/EQNR-NO\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Equinor<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/quotes\/SHEL-GB\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Shell<\/a> both reported weaker quarterly earnings last week, citing lower crude prices, among other factors.<\/p>\n<p>Stock Chart IconStock chart icon<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static-redesign.cnbcfm.com\/dist\/a54b41835a8b60db28c2.svg\" class=\"Collapsible-dismissButton\" alt=\"hide content\"\/><\/p>\n<p>BP, Equinor and Shell shares year-to-date<\/p>\n<p>Equinor <a href=\"https:\/\/www.equinor.com\/news\/equinor-fourth-quarter-and-full-year-2025-results\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">announced<\/a> it would reduce share buybacks to $1.5 billion this year, down from $5 billion last year, while also trimming investments in its renewables and low-emission energy projects. <\/p>\n<p>Shell, for its part, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2026\/02\/05\/shell-earnings-q4-2025.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">kept its buybacks steady at $3.5 billion<\/a>, a move that marked the firm&#8217;s 17th consecutive quarter of $3 billion or more in buybacks.<\/p>\n<p>BP&#8217;s decision to pause its share buybacks should be seen as a prudent step to prioritize balance sheet strength in a softer commodity price environment, according to Maurizio Carulli, global energy analyst at Quilter Cheviot.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Under former CEO Murray Auchincloss&#8217;s &#8216;strategy reset&#8217; last April, buybacks had already been reduced from $1.75bn per quarter to $750m. The decision to cancel them entirely signals a more cautious stance and a clear focus on financial resilience,&#8221; Carulli <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;While the move was not a complete surprise to the market, particularly after similar actions by other oil majors, some shorter-term investors may be disappointed, which helps explain the share price weakness seen today. However, prioritising balance sheet strength in a softer commodity price environment is a prudent step.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Trowbridge in Somerset, England, on March 15, 2025. Anna Barclay | Getty Images News | Getty Images British&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":579890,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[14412,24936,64,81,13656,211621,3345,14411,376,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-579889","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-bp-plc","9":"tag-breaking-news-europe","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-business-news","12":"tag-earnings","13":"tag-equinor-asa","14":"tag-oil-and-gas","15":"tag-shell-plc","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116046496220961249","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=579889"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579889\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/579890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=579889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=579889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=579889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}