London, June 26, 2026, 09:05 BST
- BP slipped 1.7% to 472.8 pence early in London, trailing a weaker FTSE 100.
- The company’s 10% slice of Bab Gas Cap translates to around 0.15 bcfd for its look-through share, making up about 2.3% of BP’s gas output forecast for 2025.
- Another upstream-focused deal lands with a new ONGC contract, but BP isn’t the operator or owner of those Indian assets.
- Brent fell 2%, keeping traders focused on near-term cash flow.
BP PLC (LON:BP) shares dropped during early London trade on Friday. Two new upstream-focused deals in Abu Dhabi and India weren’t enough to counter a softer oil price or ease worry among investors about how quickly BP is turning things around.
BP shares slipped 1.7% to 472.8 pence at 09:01 BST, putting the oil major’s market cap close to 74 billion pounds. FTSE 100 also edged down around 0.2%. BP is trading 22.4% below its 52-week high of 609.4 pence.
BP gets into upstream gas in Abu Dhabi, signing a concession deal with ADNOC and others for the Bab Gas Cap project. The company said Thursday it’s taking a 10% stake. The project could deliver as much as 1.5 billion cubic feet of gas a day. Investors will focus on how much Abu Dhabi exposure BP gets from this move.
BP’s share of the target comes to 0.15 bcfd on an equity basis. Davy data from Morningstar shows BP produced 6.5 bcfd of natural gas per day in 2025, along with 1.2 million barrels a day of liquids. This means Abu Dhabi will represent around 2.3% of BP’s 2025 gas output, not including fiscal terms, timing, or condensate.
Muted shares make sense. Bab puts BP into a major Gulf gas deal and connects it to ADNOC’s LNG business, but near-term earnings still move more on oil prices, debt, or buybacks.
TotalEnergies SE (EPA:TTE) owns 10% of the concession and said the project is set for 1.5 bcfd, linked to Abu Dhabi’s push to grow gas and condensate output. Chairman and CEO Patrick Pouyanné said it brings “low-cost, low-emissions resources with significant potential for production growth.” Totalenergies
BP picked up another upstream services contract in the past day. It will act as technical services provider for Oil and Natural Gas Corp Ltd’s (NSE:ONGC) fields in the Western Offshore Basin, but ONGC keeps ownership and runs the operations. The basin, ONGC’s top hydrocarbon producer, has 43 blocks.
ONGC Chairman and CEO Arun Kumar Singh said the deal aims for “improved recovery, greater efficiency and sustained production growth.” BP India Chairman Kartikeya Dube said BP will bring its “global expertise” and help “strengthen India’s energy security.” The Economic Times reported BP will get a fixed fee for two years, then a service fee based on revenue from net incremental production. The Economic Times
The stock kept moving with crude. Brent dropped nearly 2% to $73.76 a barrel on Friday, as traffic picked up again through the Strait of Hormuz. Brent and WTI are both on track to fall about 8% for the week.
BP is pushing ahead with upstream deals but investors are looking for stronger cash returns. The company put its share buyback on hold in February to bring debt down, but net debt for the first quarter rose to $25.3 billion. Underlying replacement-cost profit came in at $3.2 billion, ahead of forecasts thanks to oil trading, though oil and gas units fell short.
BP names Gordon Birrell to head upstream, Harding in as interim downstream boss
BP is set to split its operations into clearer upstream and downstream segments, with CEO Meg O’Neill leading the shift. BP said June 9 that Gordon Birrell will take charge of upstream and Richard Harding will be interim head of downstream. The company expects these changes to start operationally on July 1, but will reflect them in external reporting from Jan. 1, 2027.
The Abu Dhabi and India deals line up with that reset. But the boardroom drama is still weighing on the stock. BP pushed out chair Albert Manifold in May after governance and conduct questions, knocking shares down as much as 10%. “BP had the most volatile boardroom of the oil supermajors,” said Morningstar’s Lindsey Stewart at the time. Reuters
