BNP Paribas to Halt New Oil and Gas Project Financing

By Pierre Bertrand

BNP Paribas on Thursday said that it will no longer finance the development of new oil and gas fields, regardless of the financing method.

The French bank, in providing more details on its previously announced plans to withdraw from hydrocarbon exploration and production activities, said it will reduce its financing of oil exploration and production by 80% by 2030.

It said it will achieve this by also "phasing out financing to non-diversified oil exploration and production players which is intended to support oil production" and by reducing the share of corporate-purpose facilities allocated to oil exploration and production.

As regards natural gas projects, BNP said it will cease all financing dedicated to developing new fields. It has a target of cutting gas exploration and production financing by more than 30% by 2030.

BNP added that it has set for 2030 new per-ton emission intensity reduction targets for its loan portfolios in steel, aluminum and cement. It said that it aims for a reduction in steel emissions by 25% and aluminum emissions by 10% compared with 2022, and a cut in cement emissions by 24% compared with 2021.

Write to Pierre Bertrand at pierre.bertrand@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 11, 2023 06:50 ET (10:50 GMT)

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