BP Vows ‘Fundamental Reset’ in Strategy as Profit Plunges

Murray Auchincloss, the chief executive of the struggling energy giant BP, promised “a fundamental reset” of the company’s strategy on Tuesday while reporting disappointing earnings.

The shift comes after a long period of lackluster share performance compared with its industry peers. BP’s share price has perked up in recent months, but its perceived weakness and other shortcomings have attracted interest from Elliott Investment Management, a hedge fund known for shaking up its targets in an effort to improve shareholder value.

Mr. Auchincloss is reserving the details of BP’s shift for a presentation to investors on Feb. 26, but analysts seem to have little doubt about its direction.

BP is likely to reduce spending on low-emissions energy technologies like wind and hydrogen and try to boost oil and natural gas production, analysts say. “We would anticipate that there will be major changes in capital allocation, particularly around lower spending in the low-carbon arena,” Alastair Syme, an analyst at Citigroup, wrote in a note to clients on Tuesday.

Mr. Auchincloss appears headed toward a major reversal of the course taken by his predecessor, Bernard Looney, who left the company in 2023 after failing to disclose personal relationships with colleagues.

In the early part of this decade, when oil prices were low and governments were pressing companies to reduce emissions, Mr. Looney aggressively invested in green technologies like offshore wind and throttled back on oil and gas.