LONDON, March 21, 2026, 15:40 GMT
BP shares in London slipped 3.58% to finish Friday at 562.3 pence, pulling back from Thursday’s 52-week high of 583.6 pence. The company had announced the sale of its Gelsenkirchen refinery in Germany and a bigger cost-cutting target just a day earlier. The stock’s retreat tracked accelerating losses across UK equities as war-driven inflation worries intensified. 1
BP’s decision stands out: it’s still working to regain investor confidence after it shelved quarterly share buybacks in February to focus on paying down debt—a move that knocked its shares down 7% that day. Shell and Exxon stuck with their buybacks. BP, though, is asking investors for patience as it targets asset sales and lower debt to underpin returns, with Meg O’Neill set to step in come April. 2
BP announced on March 19 that it will sell its Gelsenkirchen refinery and associated operations to Klesch Group. With the deal, BP bumped up its 2027 cost-cutting target by about $1 billion, landing in a new range of $6.5 billion to $7.5 billion—roughly 30% of its 2023 cost base. According to the company, the transaction is expected to bolster the balance sheet, increase free cash flow, and drop the cash breakeven for its remaining refining segment. 3
Interim CEO Carol Howle described the deal as “strengthening our balance sheet,” adding that BP remains set on “decisive action” to cut down portfolio complexity. Over in Germany, country head Patrick Wendeler called Klesch the “right owner” for what’s next at Gelsenkirchen. The plan: roughly 1,800 workers will move over once the sale wraps up in the latter half of 2026, pending necessary approvals. 3
Oil didn’t provide much of a cushion. Brent crude finished Friday up 3.26% at $112.19 a barrel—marking the strongest close since July 2022. The move came after Iraq invoked force majeure on oilfields run by foreign companies, as the Middle East conflict escalated. 4
Crude’s surge rattled investors, who saw it as an inflation trigger. The FTSE 100 dropped 1.4%. British energy shares weren’t spared, losing 1.7%. In rates, traders quickly moved to price about a 70% probability of a quarter-point Bank of England hike by April, and as many as three hikes on the table before year-end. 5
“Damage has been done to production,” said Ole Hansen, Saxo Bank’s head of commodity strategy, making a swift turnaround in energy prices improbable. That puts BP in a bind. Higher oil prices help cash flow, sure, but they cast a shadow over demand and rates. 4
Risks are still in play. The Gelsenkirchen deal is hanging on regulatory and government sign-off. Over 800 union workers, locked out, started picketing BP’s 440,000 barrel-per-day Whiting refinery in Indiana on March 19, but BP said it doesn’t expect output to take a hit. 3
BP has now either announced or closed deals totaling over $11 billion in divestments, putting it past the halfway mark on its $20 billion objective for 2027. Even with news of the larger cost-cut target and the latest refinery sale, shares on Friday failed to reclaim Thursday’s high. 3
