Back to Petroleum: BP and Shell Reignite the Fossil Fire—with a Side of Green Spin

Shell—bankrolled by the usual suspects like BlackRock—is reportedly considering scooping up BP, or what’s left of its battered, green-tinted carcass.

It’s official. BP’s much-vaunted “Beyond Petroleum” rebrand has now aged about as well as crude in a plastic bottle. After decades of climate posturing, oil-soaked disasters, and a failed fling with windmills, BP has come crawling back to its true love: fossil fuels. Maybe it’s time to call the company what it really is—“Back to Petroleum”.

And what better partner in this hydrocarbon love story than Shell—the other half of the British oil aristocracy, and arguably the more ruthless cousin. Not content with polluting the planet, Shell has long enjoyed ties to geopolitical espionage (hello, Hakluyt) and a shameful history of operating in apartheid South Africa. BP wasn’t far behind, of course. When it comes to moral bankruptcy, these two have always shared a boardroom.

Now, as BP lurches from crisis to greenwashing to fossil-fuel relapse, Shell is reportedly circling—perhaps not just for a hostile takeover, but to bury what remains of BP’s pretence at decency.

🛢️ From Deepwater Horizon to Deep Denial

BP’s woes began with an act of “gross negligence” and “willful misconduct”, according to a US federal judge, when Deepwater Horizon exploded in 2010, killing 11 people and vomiting oil into the Gulf of Mexico in the worst offshore spill in US history. The price tag? A humble $65 billion—plus the ongoing PR nightmare.

And that’s just the start. The company also bet big on Russia, joining Rosneft, Putin’s favourite oil producer, only to bail when tanks rolled into Ukraine. That brilliant strategic move cost BP a third of its production and $25 billion in vanished value. “Who could have predicted a volatile petrostate might pose risks?” asked no one who’s ever cracked open a newspaper.

🌱 The Great Green Pretence

In 2020, then-CEO Bernard Looney (who has since exited stage left, possibly to a greener pasture) vowed BP would hit net zero by 2050 and slash oil and gas output by 40%. This, of course, coincided with COVID-19 cratering oil demand and making everyone briefly nostalgic for breathable air.

But the minute war came knocking—and oil prices soared—BP rediscovered its inner Exxon. Suddenly, saving the planet was too ambitious, too expensive, too… unprofitable. By 2023, that 40% cut had shrunk to 25%, and in 2025, BP fully backpedaled. It now plans to boost fossil fuel spending by 20% to $10 billion annually while gutting its so-called energy transition budget by a climate-friendly 70%.

Current CEO Murray Auchincloss, in a moment of brutal honesty, said the company went “too far, too fast” into renewables. Translation: “We forgot this business is about making obscene profits, not saving ice caps.”

📉 Investor Uprising—or Just More Greed?

Enter Elliott Investment Management, the activist hedge fund that makes Gordon Gekko look like Greta Thunberg. With a 5% stake in BP, Elliott is demanding “transformative change”—which naturally means more oil, fewer solar panels, and a CEO who doesn’t dream of wind turbines. After all, what is climate change next to shareholder value?

BP obliged. Out goes Helge Lund. Out goes sustainability EVP Giulia Chierchia. No replacement needed—apparently, the “strategy” going forward is to do exactly what Exxon is doing, only with more guilt.

Even top-10 investor Legal & General voiced unease, saying it’s “deeply concerned” by the firm’s fossil-fuel pivot. Bless them. Concerned, but still invested.

Meanwhile, Shell—bankrolled by the usual suspects like BlackRock—is reportedly considering scooping up BP, or what’s left of its battered, green-tinted carcass. The merger would be a reunion decades in the making. The two companies have shared not just pipelines and markets, but ideological DNA—from their apartheid-era operations in South Africa to their ties to intelligence-gathering firm Hakluyt, a discreet advisory outfit set up by former MI6 agents to do the kind of work oil companies like to keep off the books.

🌍 A Glimpse at the Cliff Edge

Sure, fossil fuels are enjoying a dead-cat bounce. With Trump’s “drill, baby, drill” revival, OPEC ramping up supply, and political cowardice at record highs, the big oil boys are cashing in like there’s no tomorrow. Fitting, really.

But betting everything on oil just as the International Energy Agency warns we could hit peak demand by 2030 is like buying beachfront property as the tide rolls in. Smart only if your definition of “long term” stops at the next quarterly bonus

Disclosure:

This article was generated with the support of artificial intelligence and reviewed by a human editor. All direct quotes are accurate and all information presented is true and fact-checked. Historical context is provided to highlight relevant corporate associations and ethical failures.

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