BP announces significant write-downs in Germany

The energy giant BP has announced that it will make a write-down of up to 2 billion US dollars in the second quarter due to plans to reduce its refinery activities in Germany. This adjustment will be reflected in the yet-to-be-released quarterly figures, which are expected to be published at the end of the month. The company informed on Tuesday that the second-quarter results will include "post-tax write-offs and one-time contractual provisions between 1 billion and 2 billion US dollars." The combination of rising energy costs and declining demand has severely impacted BP's operations in Germany, particularly as the future of the refinery in Gelsenkirchen is under review. BP also warned that lower refining margins could further reduce their profits by an additional 500 to 700 million US dollars. These announcements caused BP's shares to fall by 3 percent in early trading on Tuesday. The announcement comes after last week’s news that competitor Shell also announced a write-down of up to 1 billion US dollars for a planned biofuel plant in the Netherlands—one of the group's largest energy transition projects.