BP should stick to its knitting

Over the decades oil and gas multinationals like BP (I refuse to use the ludicrous lower case descriptor !) have flirted with diversification but failed. Their corporate memory is almost exclusively about hydrocarbons.

The often missed point is that the oil/gas corporations do not themselves have much impact on the environment. Yes the products they produce and sell damage the planet and hazard its future. But it’s not the corporations polluting, it’s their customers. You and me for example.

There is no technical or commercial synergy between a wind farm and an oil or gas production platform. Utterly different science and operation. There is no reason for BP, Shell or Exxon to operate wind farms. Their corporate memory brings nothing to the task. Unlike, say, Unilever or Proctor and Gamble they are not multibrand portfolio operations. They find, produce and trade hydrocarbons and succeed when they “stick to the knitting” of doing this.

The world is going to need hydrocarbons for a very long time no matter how many wind farms, electric cars and heat pumps we make. BP has a prosperous future if it sticks to what it does best.