BP targets $40 break-even price in four years to reassure investors
LONDON (Bloomberg) -- BP Plc said it will need an oil price of about $40/bbl in 2021 to be able to cover spending and dividends, lowering the so-called cash-balance point from $60 this year.
The break-even level will fall as BP keeps capital spending at no more than $17 billion a year, the London-based company said Tuesday in a statement.
CEO Bob Dudley, who took over in the wake of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, is seeking a return to growth after payments from the accident and asset sales shrunk the company. But he must also show investors he’ll keep spending in check as oil prices remain way below the levels of 2012 and 2013.
“We can see growth ahead right across the group,” Dudley said in the statement. “While always maintaining our discipline on costs and capital, BP is now getting back to growth -- today, over the medium term and over the very long term.”
BP rose 0.6% to 454.4 pence in London trading at 2:30 p.m. local time, after earlier falling 0.3%.
The company said this month its break-even oil price would rise to $60 a barrel this year from an earlier assumption of as much as $55 after buying oil and natural-gas fields in Egypt and West Africa.