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Argus Media: BP slumps to record loss in 2020 as pandemic bites

BP took heavy impairments and write-offs mid 2020, stemming from new oil price assumptions due to a fall in demand from Covid-19 and the energy transition, it said.
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Konstantin Rozhnov of global energy and commodity price reporting agency Argus Media on Tuesday (2 January) published a summary on the market forces and decisions BP had to make throughout the Covid-19 pandemic and energy transition which resulted in the company’s record loss in 2020:

BP made a profit in the fourth quarter but still reported a record loss for the whole of 2020 as Covid-related revisions to its oil and gas price assumptions triggered hefty impairments and write-offs in the summer.

Excluding inventory effects, the company made a profit of $825mn in October-December, compared with a loss of $4mn a year earlier. BP said its performance in the quarter was “significantly impacted” by a lower contribution from “marketing in the downstream, with volumes remaining under pressure due to Covid-19”. The company also cites “a significantly weaker result in gas marketing and trading, and higher exploration write-offs”.

For the whole of 2020, BP swung to a record loss of $18.1bn, from a profit of $3.5bn in 2019. The company took heavy impairments and write-offs in the middle of 2020, stemming from new oil and gas price assumptions resulting from the demand hit from the Covid-19 pandemic and the energy transition.

BP’s divestment programme brought in $4.2bn of proceeds in the fourth quarter, including $3.5bn from the sale of most of its petrochemical assets to UK firm Ineos. Divestment proceeds for the full year amounted to $6.6bn.

“BP has now completed or agreed transactions for over half of its target of $25bn in proceeds by 2025,” the company said. It expects to cash in $4bn-6bn of asset sales this year.

The divestment proceeds helped the firm reduce its net debt — excluding leases — by $1.4bn during the fourth quarter to $38.9bn by the end of the year. But the company said it expects net debt to increase in the first half of this year before going back down in the second half. BP plans to reach its net debt target of $35bn around the end of this year or early 2022, which will trigger share buybacks.

In terms of investment, BP sees total capital expenditure (capex), including acquisition spending, of about $13bn this year. The firm’s organic capex amounted to $12bn in 2020, down from $15.2bn in 2019. The firm said although the pandemic did not cause significant disruption to its ongoing operations, it did have an impact on some major development projects including Mad Dog 2 in the US Gulf of Mexico and the Greater Tortue Ahmeyin LNG project in Mauritania and Senegal.

BP’s upstream oil and gas production — excluding its 20pc stake in Russian state-controlled Rosneft — averaged 2.16mn b/d of oil equivalent (boe/d) in the fourth quarter, which was 20pc lower than a year earlier partly because of divestments. For the whole of 2020, output averaged 2.38mn boe/d. BP predicts production this quarter will be slightly higher than in October-December but it expects the ongoing asset sales programme to leave full-year output lower than 2020.

In the downstream, BP’s refinery runs averaged 1.63mn b/d in the fourth quarter, compared with 1.85mn b/d a year earlier. “Looking to the first quarter of 2021, we expect industry refining margins and utilization to remain under pressure,” the firm said.


Photo credit and source: Argus Media
Published: 3 February, 2020

 

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Winding up

Singapore: Xihe Holdings subsidiaries to be wound up voluntarily, creditors to submit claims

Creditors of Da Zhong Tankers and Xin Ying Shipping are required on or before 17 July 2026 to send in their names and addresses and particulars of their debts or claims to appointed liquidators, says notice.
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Xihe Holdings Pte Ltd subsidiaries Da Zhong Tankers Pte Ltd and Xin Ying Shipping Pte Ltd will voluntarily wind up following resolutions that were passed by written means, according to a Government Gazette notice published on Thursday (18 June).

The resolutions set out below were duly passed:

  • SPECIAL RESOLUTION – WINDING-UP

That the Company be wound up voluntarily pursuant to section 160(1)(b) of the Insolvency, Restructuring and Dissolution Act 2018.

  • ORDINARY RESOLUTION – APPOINTMENT OF LIQUIDATORS

That Paresh Tribhovan Jotangia and Ho May Kee of Grant Thornton Singapore Private Limited, 8 Marina View, #40-04/05 Asia Square Tower 1, Singapore 018960 be and are hereby appointed as joint and several liquidators to conduct the said winding-up and that their remuneration be fixed on the usual scale of their professional charges for the work involved.

  • SPECIAL RESOLUTION – POWERS OF LIQUIDATORS

That the liquidators of the Company be authorised to exercise any of their powers given by section 177, 144 (1) and (2) of the Insolvency, Restructuring and Dissolution Act 2018 and to distribute to members, in specie, any part of the assets of the Company.

In another notice, the liquidator of the company said creditors are required on or before 17 July 2026 to send in their names and addresses with particulars of their solicitors (if any) to liquidator Paresh Tribhovan Jotangia at Grant Thornton Singapore Private Limited, 8 Marina View, #40-04/05 Asia Square Tower 1, Singapore 018960. 

The liquidator may require creditors or their solicitors to “come in and prove their said debts or claims at such time and place as shall be specified in such notice or in default thereof, they will be excluded from the benefit of any distribution made before such debts are proved.”

Related: Singapore: Additional Xihe Holdings subsidiaries to be placed under judicial management

 

Photo credit: steve pb from Pixabay
Published: 19 June, 2026

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Winding up

Singapore: Liquidator of Parakou Shipping issues notice of dividend

Second and final dividend to admitted creditors of Parakou Shipping is payable by 14 July, according to Government Gazette notice.

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June 19, 2026

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A notice of dividend for Parakou Shipping Pte Ltd, which is currently in voluntary liquidation, was published on the Government Gazette on Thursday (18 June). 

The following are the details of the notice:

Name of Company : Parakou Shipping Pte Ltd (In Creditors’ Voluntary Liquidation)
Address of Registered Office : c/o KordaMentha, 50 Raffles Place, 25-01 Singapore Land Tower, Singapore 048623
Amount per centum : 0.55 per centum of admitted claims (in accordance with the Order of Court HC/ORC 4175/2024)
First and Final or otherwise : Second and Final Dividend to admitted creditors (in accordance with the Order of Court HC/ORC 4175/2024)
When payable : By 14 July 2026
Where payable : c/o KordaMentha Pte Ltd, 50 Raffles Place, #25-01 Singapore Land Tower, Singapore 048623

Related: Singapore: Notice of intended dividend issued for Parakou Shipping Pte Ltd

 

Photo credit: Benjamin Child
Published: 19 June, 2026

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Alternative Fuels

MOL inks bio-LNG bunker fuel supply deals with Titan and Axpo for car carriers in Europe

Titan, part of Amsterdam-based Molgas, will continue to supply bio-LNG fuel in Northwest Europe, while Axpo will take charge of supply in the Mediterranean region.
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MOL inks bio-LNG bunker fuel supply deals with Titan and Axpo for car carriers in Europe

Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) on Thursday (18 July) said it has signed new supply agreements in Northern Europe and the Mediterranean region to expand the use of bio-LNG marine fuel on MOL-operated LNG-fuelled car carriers.

Titan, part of Amsterdam-based Molgas, will continue to supply bio-LNG fuel in Northwest Europe, while Axpo will take charge of supply in the Mediterranean region.

MOL said the agreement makes it possible for its company to supply bio-LNG fuel for automobile carriers in the Mediterranean region, specifically Port of Malaga and Barcelona in Spain, following the bio-LNG fuel supply agreement in Western Europe, which commenced in March last year.

The bio-LNG fuel to be supplied in this initiative has a lifecycle carbon intensity (carbon dioxide emissions per unit of energy consumption) of -15 g-CO2/MJ or less, from production through consumption. Furthermore, this bio-LNG fuel has obtained International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC-EU). 

“Through this supply agreement, MOL has established a framework that ensures a continuous and stable supply of bio-LNG fuel not only in Northern Europe but also in the Mediterranean,” the company said.

As part of the group’s efforts to adopt alternative fuels and achieve net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, it is utilising LNG-fuelled vessels as a bridge solution to facilitate the transition to carbon-neutral fuels such as bio-LNG and synthetic LNG (e-methane).

In 2025, MOL signed a bio LNG fuel supply agreement in Northwest Europe with Titan, part of the Molgas, and MOL has continued this bio LNG fuel supply agreement with the same company in 2026 as well.

 

Photo credit: Mitsui OSK Lines
Published: 19 June, 2026

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