Shopping Therapy for BP

Someone’s feeling better about themselves again.

That someone would be BP (NYSE: BP), which is celebrating the fact that the Deepwater Horizon accident and subsequent Gulf oil spill merely shrank it dramatically rather than wiping it off the face of the Earth.

BP also has to be feeling good about the fairly significant accomplishment of being able to cover its dividend as well as capital spending from operating cash flow at current energy prices.

It’s marking these accomplishments with something of a spending spree. Just this week, the company announced investments of $2.2 billion in an Abu Dhabi onshore oil concession and nearly $1 billion (over a number of years) in deep water gas discoveries off the coast of West Africa. Earlier this month, BP greenlighted deep water development in the Gulf of Mexico expected to cost $9 billion.

Those projects are essential to growing production once again after the years of retrenchment. They also demonstrate the company’s global reach and, in the case of Abu Dhabi, commercial relationships nurtured over many decades. Rather than having to pay cash for that concession, BP is issuing new shares representing a 2% stake to the emirate’s sovereign wealth fund.

BP also has long-term relationship with the Russian oil industry – it owns nearly 20% of the giant Rosneft, and would be among the biggest Western beneficiaries if the Trump Administration eventually rolls back sanctions punishing Russia for invading Ukraine.

The share price has urged 11% to an 18-month high since OPEC agreed to curb exports last month, though it’s important to note that BP typically makes much more money from refining and other downstream processing businesses than from oil and gas production.

The dividend yield remains attractive at 6.4% and is no longer threatened by the Gulf oil spill costs, which have peaked and are now likely to decline in the coming years. Buy Growth recommendation BP below $42.

 

Stock Talk

Guest

Guest

Jesus Christ. I just read this verbatim over at TES. Do you guys do anything original anymore??!

I kid I kid. I don’t even have a membership over there. At least some of us are happy with you, Igor.

Robert Rapier

Robert Rapier

Actually I have written about BP a few times over there. Igor and I are on the same page here. BP’s value is below what I think is a fair market value. There are negatives, but they shouldn’t weigh the share price down as much as they have.

Igor Greenwald

Igor Greenwald

Thanks, needed this

Guest

Guest

Igor,

As a small business owner I’ve had many run ins with customers and I can assure you they aren’t always right. They are seldom right. I’m in the service industry and they can sure beat the crap out of you.

My advice is don’t get down. If you enjoy what you do and you are obviously good at it then continue on and feel free to tell them to kindly STFU and take their money elsewhere if they aren’t happy.

That’s what I do and I’m certainly not starving.

Honestly my only gripe, and it’s minor, is the questions on stock talk could be answered a little more timely.

Happy New Year.

Igor Greenwald

Igor Greenwald

Thanks, that’s my hope as well, though obviously I’m still working on it.

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