BP Suspends Buyback as Weak Oil Prices Weigh

By Adam Whittaker

BP suspended its quarterly share buyback in a bid to strengthen its balance sheet as oil prices weaken.

The last time the British energy major didn't launch a quarterly buyback was in 2020 during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic when oil prices plummeted and energy companies moved to protect their balance sheets. BP's previous buyback was $750 million after cutting it from $1.75 billion in April last year.

BP's push to become a simpler and more profitable business after years of underperforming its peers comes amid a weaker oil and gas price environment. It is investing in its traditional fossil-fuel business, has revamped its leadership team and has vowed to make shareholder value central to its operations.

As part of the strategy shift, it cut spending on renewable energy assets that hurt profits and caused multibillion-dollar write-downs while cost-saving targets and assets sales are being used to rein in its high net debt.

BP increased its structural cost-reduction target Tuesday to between $5.5 billion and $6.5 billion by end-2027. This compares with a previous target of up to $5 billion.

The company reported an underlying replacement cost profit--a similar metric to net income that U.S. oil companies report--of $1.54 billion for the fourth quarter. This compared with $1.55 billion analysts had expected, according to a company-compiled consensus, and $2.21 billion reported in the third quarter.

BP's net debt stood at $22.18 billion, but this doesn't include the around $6 billion of proceeds that it is set to receive from the sale of a majority stake in its Castrol lubricants business, which it announced in December.

As the push into renewables is undone, BP has brought in a new team of a executives. Meg O'Neill--an oil-and-gas veteran who most recently led Australia's Woodside Energy--will take over as chief executive in April, while Albert Manifold took up the role as chairman in October.

BP is targeting asset sales of $20 billion by 2027.

Write to Adam Whittaker at adam.whittaker@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 10, 2026 02:50 ET (07:50 GMT)