Global energy company BP is turning green but don’t expect to see electric vehicle chargers at your local petrol station any time soon.
While BP is known for oil and gas – and petrol stations – the company is forecasting a greener future but says there needs to be certainty in energy policy to underpin investment in renewables.
“We’re looking to grow our gas and renewables business and see robust growth in this area out to 2040, and we support policies that support certainty around investment in lower carbon technologies like these,” BP’s vice president for global strategic planning, Dominic Emery, told Fairfax Media.
“The world needs more energy and we need to reduce emissions by 50 per cent by 2040. In general, anything that allows more certainty for investment we support.”
BP’s chief executive, Bob Dudley, said to drive down energy use we need a carbon emissions solution.
“Put a price on carbon and you incentivise everyone to use less energy,” Mr Dudley said.
BP has been investing heavily in renewable technology. Mr Emery told Fairfax Media that it will play a greater role in the company’s future portfolio.
It recently invested $200 million in Europe’s largest solar company, Lightsource.
“We’re keen to learn from that. We want to develop a six-gigawatt solar portfolio,” Mr Emery said.
The company is also one of the largest wind power generators in the US.
BP’s major business in Australia, its petrol and service stations, remains a key focus. However, Mr Emery said BP would not consider attempting a retail partnership again, like its failed $1.8 billion tie-up with Woolworths, any time soon.
BP had agreed to buy 543 Woolworths fuel and convenience stores around Australia but it was knocked back by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
“No [we won’t do it again]. We won’t be rushing it in Australia. We’re continuing to look to grow organically but we have no decision on how we progress on this,” Mr Emery said.
This slower organic growth includes electric vehicle integration at its service stations.
“We’ve had a successful retail business in Australia for some time now. Electric vehicles are a penetrable market for us but there are no incentives or subsidies to ramp it up in Australia,” Mr Emery said.
“I think for electric vehicles we’ll look overseas and learn from what others are doing and that will be applied in Australia.”
This stance is similar to BP’s rival Caltex, which sees electric vehicles as an inevitability for the sector but also has no short-term plans to integrate the technology.
Outside of its petrol stations and renewables, BP still sees a strong future for its Australian oil and gas holdings.
Mr Emery said BP’s upstream oil and gas operations are currently focused on Western Australia.
“We’re looking for opportunities to develop in the Browse Basin,” he said.
Extracted from The Sydney Morning Herald