BP p.l.c. (BP)

BP said on 13 October 2026 that its net debt at the end of the third quarter should fall to between $13.5 billion and $14.5 billion, from $22.3 billion three months earlier 1. Reuters reported that this reaches the company's target of $14 billion to $18 billion about a year early, helped by the paused buyback, high prices and asset sales 11.

Refining did much of the lifting: BP put its refining indicator margin, a gauge of what a barrel of crude earns once turned into fuels, at $46.7 a barrel, against $29.6 in the second quarter 1. Reuters tied the jump to the Iran war, which has disrupted global oil supplies 11.

The same statement flagged impairments, write-downs of what assets are worth on the books, of $3.0 billion to $4.5 billion, mostly in the gas and low carbon segment's transition businesses 1. RBC analysts, quoted by Reuters, put such write-downs over the past year at around $10 billion 11.

Meg O'Neill, chief executive since April, says the company must "get fit to grow" by cutting debt, selling assets and running its plants more reliably 2. The next answers come with the full results on 30 October and a strategy and outlook update in New York on 15 December 1.

The company was incorporated in England and Wales in 1909 and took its present name in 2001 3. For more than a century it was defined by two businesses, finding and producing oil and gas upstream, and refining and selling fuel downstream, as its 2020 report put it 5.

The defining disaster came on 20 April 2010, when the Deepwater Horizon rig, working a well a BP unit operated in the Gulf of America, exploded and spilled oil 3. A US court approved the settlement with the federal government and the Gulf states on 4 April 2016 3. The bill still runs: BP expects around $1.6 billion of settlement payments before tax in 2026 2.

Revenue fell from $298.8 billion in 2018 to $180.4 billion in 2020 5. The 2020 report blamed lower oil and gas prices, weak refining margins and depressed demand in the pandemic, and the year closed with a $20.3 billion loss for shareholders 5.

That same year BP set out to turn itself from an international oil company into an integrated energy company, with an ambition to be a net zero company by 2050 or sooner 5.

In 2022 BP decided to exit its 19.75% shareholding in Rosneft, the Russian oil company, and took a $24.0 billion charge before tax 6. Revenue climbed to $241.4 billion and underlying profit, which strips out such one-off items, reached $27.7 billion, yet shareholders' result was a $2.5 billion loss 6. BP still announced $11.25 billion of buybacks from that year's surplus cash 6.

In February 2025 BP reset its plan at a Capital Markets Update, aiming for $4 billion to $5 billion of structural cost cuts by the end of 2027 3. It added a $20 billion disposal programme, and in February 2026 the board suspended the share buyback to put all excess cash toward the balance sheet 34.

Revenue was $189.3 billion in 2025, flat on 2024 and down from $210.1 billion in 2023 3. Profit for shareholders was only $55 million after $6.4 billion of net charges such as impairments, while underlying profit was $7.5 billion 4. Operations ran well: refining availability was a record 96.3% 4.

Exploration paid off in 2025: BP made 12 discoveries, including Bumerangue in Brazil, its largest in 25 years 3. Murray Auchincloss stepped down as chief executive in December 2025, and the board appointed Meg O'Neill to join on 1 April 2026 3.

Under O'Neill, BP sold the Gelsenkirchen refinery in Germany to Klesch Group and 10% of Pan American Energy Group 2. In her first full quarter, the second of 2026, underlying profit was $5.7 billion, $2.5 billion more than in the first 2.

Oil production and operations

This segment runs the regions whose wells mainly produce crude oil, including bpx energy, the US onshore business 3. In 2025 it booked $24.5 billion of revenue and $8.6 billion of profit before interest and tax 3. It produced 1,436 thousand barrels of oil equivalent a day in the second quarter of 2026 1.

In Iraq, BP's Kirkuk contract took effect in October 2025 from a baseline of 328,000 barrels a day, and in July ConocoPhillips agreed terms to take 42% of the Kirkuk company 32. In the Gulf of America, the Atlantis expansion started in July as the eighth of 10 major projects due online between 2025 and 2027 2.

Offshore Brazil, BP's initial estimate puts around 8 billion barrels of liquids in place at Bumerangue, an estimate of what is in the rock rather than what can be produced 4. In July BP agreed to sell its interest in Bay du Nord off Canada to Equinor, to free capital for better projects 2.

Gas and low carbon energy

This segment holds the gas-producing regions, gas trading, the Archaea Energy biogas business, solar, offshore wind, hydrogen, carbon capture and power trading 3. In 2025 it booked $40.3 billion of revenue but only $1.3 billion of profit before interest and tax, down from $3.1 billion in 2024 3. Its production was 765 thousand barrels of oil equivalent a day in the second quarter of 2026 1.

The low carbon side is shrinking: BP formed JERA Nex bp, a 50:50 offshore wind venture with JERA, sold its US onshore wind business to LS Power and dropped H2Teesside 3. In August it put Archaea up for sale 2. The October statement's impairments of $3.0 billion to $4.5 billion fall mainly on this segment's transition businesses 1.

On gas, in May BP signed to supply Korea Gas Corporation with 0.7 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas a year for 10 years from 2028 2. In June it took 10% of the Bab Gas Cap concession in Abu Dhabi, expected to produce up to 1.5 billion cubic feet of gas a day 2.

Customers and products

This segment sells to drivers and businesses through fuel stations and shops, EV charging, Castrol lubricants, aviation fuel and midstream, and it runs the refineries and oil trading 3. In 2025 it booked $148.8 billion of revenue, the bulk of the group's, and $2.7 billion of profit before interest and tax 3.

The bp brand flies over 21,050 retail sites, 8,750 of them in the US, under names that include BP, ARCO, Amoco, Aral, Thorntons and TravelCenters of America 3. BP exited around 5% of its company-owned sites in 2025 and plans to exit around 10% by 2027 3.

Its refineries processed 1,467 thousand barrels a day in the second quarter of 2026 2. The sale of the Gelsenkirchen refinery in Germany to Klesch Group completed on 31 July 1. The remaining refineries include Whiting and Cherry Point in the US, Rotterdam in the Netherlands and Castellón in Spain 3.

Castrol, the lubricants business bought in 2000, is being sold down: Stonepeak agreed to take 65% for about $6 billion in cash, and BP keeps 35% 2. Air bp signed a multi-year deal to supply Airbus with jet fuel and sustainable aviation fuel in Germany and Spain 2.

Trading

Trading runs through the whole group, from oil trading in the products business to gas marketing and the trading of renewable and non-renewable power 3. BP expected its third-quarter gas marketing and trading result to be significantly higher than the second quarter's, with oil trading broadly flat 1.

Plants and people

BP is based at 1 St James's Square in London 15. It employed 93,700 people at the end of 2025, down from 100,500 a year earlier, and 66,900 of them worked in customers and products 3. Its UK North Sea business, now for sale, has five production hubs and about 1,100 staff 12.

Meg O'Neill became chief executive on 1 April 2026, and Kate Thomson has been finance chief since 2 February 2024 3. In July O'Neill moved BP to an upstream and downstream organisation, backed by its trading business 2.

The board removed chair Albert Manifold on 26 May 2026 over what it called "governance oversight and conduct issues", and named Ian Tyler permanent chair on 2 September 78. At the April annual meeting, 18.23% of votes cast had opposed Manifold's election 9.

Rivals

BP competes with the other oil majors; Reuters reported in October that rival Shell expected a record third-quarter refining margin too 11. Bidders named for its North Sea assets include Adura, the Shell and Equinor venture, Neo Next+, Ithaca Energy and EnQuest, Offshore Magazine reported 13.

Problems

Four people died working in BP's US retail business in 2025, three of them TravelCenters of America employees 3. Tier 1 and tier 2 process safety events, unplanned releases at plants, rose to 18 in the second quarter of 2026 from 7 in the first 2.

Upstream plant reliability slipped to 92.4% from 95.7%, which O'Neill blamed partly on maintenance and the conflict in the Middle East 2. BP still holds Rosneft shares it is not able to sell on the Moscow Stock Exchange 3.

The umbrella, in words

BP's trade marks include BP, Amoco, Aral, Castrol, Thorntons, TA, PETRO and bp pulse, its EV charging brand 3. The annual report lists significant subsidiaries, not all of them, including BP Exploration Operating Company, BP Europa SE, Atlantic Richfield Company, The Standard Oil Company and Archaea Energy, each 100% owned 3.

BP owns 70% of BP Trinidad and Tobago LLC and 51% of Arcius, its Egyptian gas venture with XRG 32. Its joint ventures include 50% of Azule Energy with Eni in Angola, 50% of JERA Nex bp, and 49% of Basra Energy Company with PetroChina, the Rumaila lead contractor 3.

It owns 15.9% of Aker BP and 40% of Pan American Energy Group 2. Once the Castrol sale closes, BP keeps 35% but does not expect income or dividends from it in the short to medium term, because Stonepeak's shares carry preferred distributions 2.

No individual property is significant to the group as a whole, by the annual report's own account 3. Its largest disclosed holders at 13 February 2026 were BlackRock with 7.37%, Elliott Investment Management with 5% and Norges Bank with 3.99% 3.

Each ordinary share carries one vote; there were 15,705,666,807 of them outside treasury at 30 September 2026, beside 12,706,252 preference shares 15.

BP publishes its full third-quarter results on 30 October 2026 and holds a strategy and outlook update in New York on 15 December 1. A spokesperson told Reuters the update will "set out the next phase of delivering a simpler, stronger and more valuable BP" 11.

For 2026 the company guides reported production of 2,180 to 2,270 thousand barrels of oil equivalent a day and capital spending of $13.5 billion to $14.0 billion 2. It expects $8 billion to $9 billion from asset sales in 2026, about $6 billion of it from Castrol 2.

BP expects the Castrol deal to complete by the end of 2026, subject to regulatory approvals, and the sale of its Austrian fuel stations and bp pulse chargers to volenergy by the same date 2. The North Sea sale process began on 31 July 2026, and reports in mid-August put the package at around £2.5 billion, Offshore Magazine wrote 1213.

BP targets net debt of $14 billion to $18 billion by the end of 2027 3. It aims for $6.5 billion to $7.5 billion of structural cost cuts by 2027, around 30 percent of its 2023 cost base 10.

The company expects underlying production of 2.3 to 2.5 million barrels of oil equivalent a day in 2030, before any further sales 3. BP plans first oil from the Thunder Horse subsea pump in 2028, adding about 15,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day at peak 2. Azule Energy expects about 95,000 a day at peak from the Greater PAJ project in Angola 2.

BP says its reported segments stay unchanged until 31 December 2026, after which they follow the new upstream and downstream organisation 2. The board has picked Deloitte again as auditor from the 2028 financial year, subject to a vote at the 2027 annual meeting 16.