NEW BP boss Murray Auchincloss (pictured) began his tenure at the top of the oil giant with a tasty shareholder giveaway - helping pump up shares by more than 5 per cent in London yesterday.

Auchincloss took the top job, first on an interim basis, at the end of last year after the unceremonious exit of Bernard Looney.

Yesterday BP booked profits of £11b in 2023, down from a bumper 2022, as oil prices stabilised.

That did not stop Auchincloss from announcing a bumper share buyback of just shy of £1.5bn in the first quarter of this year, with another of the same size announced for the second quarter. Altogether Auchincloss is looking to hand back $15bn to shareholders by the end of the next financial year. BP's boss said the oil supermajor will focus on extracting maximum cash from its investments as the company resets its long-term goals.

Speaking to analysts, chief executive Murray Auchincloss said the company had established its priorities.

"I'm not going to be focused on volume, I'm going to be super focused on returns," Auchincloss told analysts on Tuesday.

"We will be relentlessly value and returns focused with our investments and focused on growing value and returns from our oil and gas portfolio. I have a bias for returns, and don't necessarily have a bias for volume, or oil or gas."

"We will continue to be pragmatic in our approach to how we navigate this transition.

"We want to help scale lower carbon energy value chains and position ourselves to profit from them but must remain flexible and adjust in line with changing demands and societal needs."

Quilter Cheviot analyst Jamie Maddock said the results mark a "new start" for BP under Auchincloss. "BP recognises that it has work to do with shareholders given what has happened over the last 12 months, and this is a positive start to the resetting of that relationship," he added.

(c) 2024 City A.M., source Newspaper