BP this week sought to flesh out the radical strategy shift announced early last month which will see the company pivot away from upstream oil and gas. Production is slated to fall from 2.6mn boe/d in 2019 to around 2mn boe/d in 2025 and just 1.5mn boe/d in 2030 as investment increasingly moves to renewables. The UK major’s solar and wind capacity is at the same time slated to rise from 2.5GW to 25GW by 2025 and 50GW by 2030.
Almost by default this means that the Mena region will take up a shrinking part of the BP portfolio. Mena currently accounts for 24% of liquids output and 33% of gas. The major currently has no Mena renewables assets, though its Lightsource BP solar subsidiary in 2018 set up a Cairo-based JV with local firm Hassan Allam with a view to investing in Egypt renewables. As yet no such investments have taken place, though the 1.5GW of solar capacity at Benban in southern Egypt (split into easily-digestible 50MW chunks) would make an obvious target. (CONTINUED - 1202 WORDS)
