With the ink barely dry on the COP28 agreement to transition away from fossil fuels, U.K.-based oil major BP plc (NYSE:BP) was called on by an activist investor to drop its commitments to clean energy production.
Bluebell Capital Partners, a London-based hedge fund with a small stake in BP, wrote to Chairman Helge Lund in October in a letter that has only just come to light. It said that BP’s pledge to cut oil and gas production by 25% by 2030 had “depressed the value of BP’s share price.”
The strategy comes as a reversal of previous attempts by activist shareholders to engage oil companies, where producers such as ExxonMobil Corp. (NYSE:XOM) were called on to reduce their fossil fuel production and engage further in the move towards renewable energy sources.
Indeed, one of the most successful activist campaigns against an oil company was by U.S. hedge fund Engine No. 1 which, in 2021, owned just 0.02% of Exxon, yet managed…
