> their workforce and costs are basically staying the same
You sure about that? they use massive amounts of energy themselves, all of which is much more expensive. Labor costs are way up among nearly all wage-based occupations (and if BP doesn't keep up, their employees will jump ship to competitors). Transporting gasoline to every street corner on multiple continents, more expensive. Taxes -- as the article indicated, huge new levies have been recently introduced. New regulations all over the globe add enormous amounts of red tape, or make certain operations impossible to build or operate, all of which pushes capital costs higher. Rising interest rates makes their borrowing costs higher.
You sure about that? they use massive amounts of energy themselves, all of which is much more expensive. Labor costs are way up among nearly all wage-based occupations (and if BP doesn't keep up, their employees will jump ship to competitors). Transporting gasoline to every street corner on multiple continents, more expensive. Taxes -- as the article indicated, huge new levies have been recently introduced. New regulations all over the globe add enormous amounts of red tape, or make certain operations impossible to build or operate, all of which pushes capital costs higher. Rising interest rates makes their borrowing costs higher.