London, Feb 10, 2026, 10:00 GMT — Regular session
- BP sank roughly 5% after the oil giant hit the brakes on its quarterly share buyback.
- Q4 underlying replacement cost profit landed at $1.54 billion, with net debt trimmed to roughly $22 billion, the company said.
- Debt reduction is in focus, with traders eyeing asset sales—Castrol remains a key piece. The CEO handover set for April is also on their radar.
BP dropped 5.2% to 452.6 pence in London trading on Tuesday, after the oil giant put its quarterly share buyback program on hold—a signal to investors that balance sheet health is now in focus. 1
The pause on buybacks is notable—oil majors leaned hard on repurchases to reward shareholders as crude prices eased back. Fewer shares out there, thanks to buybacks, can push up earnings per share even as profit growth loses steam.
The timing comes just before an April leadership shakeup: a new chief executive is stepping in following months of strategic back-and-forth and heated arguments among investors about where BP should commit its capital. Traders are now left wondering how long the buyback pause will last, and what BP will want to see — oil prices, cash flow, asset sales — before the program is restarted.
BP is halting its $750 million quarterly share buyback, shifting surplus cash to pay down debt and fund oil and gas investments instead. The company is also booking about $4 billion in impairments tied to its renewables and biogas operations. “The move to pause the buyback is the right long-term call given the relatively weak balance sheet and emphasis on de-leveraging,” said RBC’s Biraj Borkhataria. For the fourth quarter, BP posted underlying replacement cost profit — its preferred adjusted earnings metric — of $1.54 billion. Net debt slipped to $22 billion after sitting at $26 billion the previous quarter. 2
That move is notable, with the sector still under pressure to protect shareholder payouts. Just last week, Equinor slashed its buyback. BP, meanwhile, faces stiffer comparisons on cash returns as Shell and Exxon haven’t budged from their buyback plans.
Oil didn’t deliver much of a lift. Brent crude edged up 0.4% to $69.33 a barrel as of 0916 GMT, with U.S. WTI managing a 0.3% increase to $64.58. Traders continued to factor in possible supply threats from U.S.–Iran tensions. “Unless there are concrete signs of supply disruptions, prices will likely start going lower,” noted PVM oil analyst Tamas Varga. 3
BP’s latest results show the board pulling the plug on share buybacks, choosing instead to funnel all “excess cash” into shoring up the balance sheet. The company dropped its old policy of keeping shareholder distributions at about 30%–40% of operating cash flow. For 2026, BP laid out capital spending at $13.0–$13.5 bln and projected $9–$10 bln in divestment and other proceeds, which includes roughly $6 bln from its planned Castrol deal. “We’ve made progress on our targets but there’s still plenty to do, and we know time is of the essence,” interim CEO Carol Howle said. 4
BP is dialing spending back toward hydrocarbons following an expensive foray into parts of the energy transition—a shift underscored for investors by recent write-downs. The company is touting its Bumerangue discovery in Brazil as a major upstream win, and says it’s aiming to begin appraisal drilling near the end of the year.
The risks here stand out. If oil prices tumble again, or refining margins slip, debt reduction could stall—and buybacks might stay on hold longer than investors hope. Disposal delays would add to the pressure. Big deals are still waiting on regulatory sign-off, too. If management misses those cash targets, expect the market to react fast.
Investor groups are turning up the heat on BP over its strategic direction. Follow This, an activist shareholder collective, has submitted a resolution before BP’s annual investor meeting in April, demanding the company provide greater transparency on how it plans to generate value if fossil-fuel demand drops, according to the Guardian. 5
Traders are looking ahead to April, when BP’s CEO transition and annual meeting will put the company’s approach to capital returns and its debt trajectory in the spotlight. The Castrol deal timeline will be in focus, too—investors want clarity on upcoming milestones and any news about the buyback restart. Further out, Bumerangue appraisal work in 2026 remains a key operational event to watch.
