BP bets on energy trading to fund strategy shift after bumper year
BP’s trading arm made nearly $4 billion in 2020, according to a copy of an internal BP presentation seen by Reuters, almost equalling the record trading profit in 2019 despite the collapse in oil demand caused by the pandemic.
Trading revenue for majors such as BP and rival Royal Dutch/Shell shielded them from the full impact of the worst recession to hit the modern energy industry, helping finance their shift towards a new business model in a lower carbon economy.
Even with near record trading earnings, BP posted a $20.3 billion loss with writedowns in 2020 and a $5.7 billion loss without writedowns, plunging into the red for the first time in a decade.
BP, which does not publicly disclose the revenue from its trading arm, would not confirm the content of the presentation seen by Reuters and declined to comment for this article.
