Page 10 - EurOil Week 14 2021

EurOil PERFORMANCE EurOil

BP set to resume buybacks after

clearing debt target

UK BP has said it is poised to resume its share buy- the group’s trading operations.
backs after reaching its net debt target ahead of Now that the target has been cleared, BP
The company schedule, in a welcome development for share- has said it will follow up on its plan to return at
raised $4.7bn from holders, who have been somewhat sceptical of least 60% of surplus cash flow to shareholders
divestments in the first the UK major’s plan to transition away from oil through buybacks. It will provide an update on
quarter. and gas. the plan along with its first-quarter results later
BP expects to publish its first-quarter results this month.
in April 27, but it said this week it had brought its Looking ahead, the goal is to bring in a total of
net debt to under $35bn by the end of March as $6bn in disposal proceeds this year. The ultimate
planned, down from nearly $39bn three months goal is to raise $25bn between the second half of
earlier. Shares in the company closed at GBP2.98 2020 and 2025, with deals agreed or completed
($4.10) apiece in the early hours of trading on already covering $14.7bn of this sum. Some
April 6 when the announcement was made, up $10bn of these proceeds have been received.
from GBP2.90 at the previous close of trading. Royal Dutch Shell has been ahead of BP in
BP previously said it did not anticipate reach- restoring dividends in the wake of the pandemic,
ing its $35bn goal until between the fourth quar- slightly raising its dividends only two quarters
ter of 2021 and the first quarter of 2022. But the after making an historic two-thirds cut to them
company managed to rake in $4.7bn in disposal early last year. BP reduced its payout last August,
proceeds in the first quarter, including $2.4bn only a few quarters after raising them.
from the divestment of a 20% stake in Oman’s “Given where the stock price is, we expect
Block 61 to Thailand’s PTTEP. It also received more than 60% of surplus free cash flow to be
a final $1bn payment from the sale of its petro- allocated to buybacks,” Oswald Clint, analyst
chemicals business to the UK’s Ineos. at Sanford Bernstein, commented in a research
CEO Bernard Looney also attributed the note. BP also earned a lot from LNG trading in
debt reduction to “strong” performance from the first quarter, he said. ™

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 14 08•April•2021