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Historic shareholder vote against BP on Arctic oil exploration plans

Many BP investors vote against Northstar project.

LONDON - 13 April 2000 -- BP Amoco must take heed of a significant vote at its Annual General Meeting today on a resolution calling for the abandonment of oil production plans for the Arctic ocean and Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and for a redirection of funds into its solar subsidiary BP Solarex.

Today's initial proxy vote, displayed at the BP AGM today, showed 9,541 million shares against the resolution and 1,491 million shares in favour or 13.5 per cent of the vote. Votes of the shareholders attending today's meeting have yet to be counted.

Greenpeace climate protection campaigner Matthew Spencer said, "This is an historic vote, and the highest vote for an environmental resolution anywhere in the world. BP Amoco cannot ignore this message, it comes from its own investors as well as environmentalists. The BP Amoco Board must now outline a strategy to shareholders on how it will make the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy."

Athan Manuel of the US Public Interest Research Group, who co-filed the resolution said, "More than 13 per cent of investors have called on the company to stay out of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the company must listen and declare publicly its intention never to drill in America's Serengeti."

Greenpeace spokesperson Matthew Spencer said following the AGM that the company had acknowledged the threat of global climate change and that it would mean a substantial reduction in the use of oil and gas - its core products at present. However the company had not outlined to shareholders how it would manage this transition and what it would mean for the companies oil and gas investments which represent 99.9 per cent of its total energy investments.

Spencer said, "BP has decided to put itself centre stage on the environment, now it has to deliver by moving its investments from Arctic oil exploration to renewable energy. BP is at the crossroads. It either delivers or it faces a reputation meltdown," Spencer challenged the BP Amoco Board to develop a series of options with different levels of capital investment in oil exploration and renewable energy and let shareholders decide which level they want.

The Greenpeace resolution calls for the company to cancel the Northstar project, the first offshore oil project in the Arctic and redirect funds towards its solar subsidiary Solarex. It also calls for the company to abandon any plans to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

The resolution was publicly backed by a large number of individual and institutional shareholders in the US and the UK. A major ethical investment company in the US, Trillium Asset Management of Boston co-filed the resolution with Greenpeace and the US Public Interest Research Group. Trillium senior analyst Simon Billenness told the AGM the resolution was a warning bell for BP Amoco.

Billenness said "This resolution represents a warning bell for BP Amoco. This issue will not go away. The BP Amoco board can ignore this resolution but they will expose the company later to the risk of stringent regulation and possibly consumer boycotts. More sensibly the board could take heed of this warning and alter its investment strategy to take up new economic opportunities and implement its environmental rhetoric on climate change."