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BP to Lower Routine Gas Flaring From US Onshore Operations

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BP P.L.C. (BP - Free Report) announced plans to reduce the natural gas flaring of its oil and gas exploration, production and processing operations in the United States by 2025.

Per the Wall Street Journal (“WSJ”), the company seeks to develop a network of pipelines and other infrastructure to collect and capture natural gas that is produced as a byproduct during the extraction from Permian Basin oil fields. Notably, the oil giant intends to invest $1.3 billion in the process.

BP’s plans are expected to remove the usual flaring from its oil and gas assets in the United States. The process by which natural gas is flared is commonly seen in the Permian Basin since most producers look for more profitable oil and burn the gas that is a byproduct.

Located near Orla, TX, the Grand Slam facility, which is the largest infrastructure project for the company’s U.S. onshore business, will likely help it advance toward its flaring goal. It uses a separation and compression system to recover and commercialize the gas that is usually burned at the well site. Importantly, the system partially reduces the operational emissions by the process of electrification, and replacing gas-driven equipment, compressors and generators.

In 2019, BP lowered its flared gas volumes in the Permian Basin from about 16% to only 2% of total volume by investing an initial $300 million in the Grand Slam facility. Moreover, the WSJ reported that the company lowered its 2020 Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 16%, which are mostly associated with production.

In 2018, BP acquired $10.5 billion of shale assets from global miner BHP in the liquid-rich regions of the Permian and Eagle Ford basins in Texas as well as the Haynesville assets in East Texas and Louisiana. Ever since the acquisition, the company has been focused on developing those assets for a carbon-neutral future. In fact, the flaring intensity of these assets has significantly reduced since then.

Notably, BP plans to electrify more than 75% of its Permian-operated wells by late 2021 and more than 95% by 2023 to meet its net-zero ambition.

Company Profile & Price Performance

Headquartered in London, U.K., BP is a fully integrated energy company, with a strong focus on renewable energy.

Shares of the company have outperformed the industry in the past six months. Its stock has gained 53.9% compared with the industry’s 47.3% growth.

 

 

Zacks Rank & Other Stocks to Consider

BP currently carries a Zack Rank #2 (Buy).

Some other top-ranked players in the energy space are TOTAL SE , Pioneer Natural Resources Company and Ring Energy, Inc. (REI - Free Report) , each currently sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

TOTAL’s earnings for 2021 are expected to rise 10.1% year over year.

Pioneer’s earnings for 2021 are expected to increase 30.1% year over year.

Ring Energy’s earnings for 2021 are expected to grow 52.2% year over year.

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