BP Exits $36-Billion Australian Green Hydrogen and Renewables Project

• BP withdraws from Australia’s $36-billion green hydrogen project, signaling a renewed focus on oil and gas amid challenges in large-scale renewable development.

BP has quietly walked away from one of the world’s most ambitious clean-energy ventures—the USD 36 billion Australian Renewable Energy Hub (AREH)—signaling a decisive shift back toward the company’s traditional bread-and-butter: oil and gas.

The project, set in Western Australia’s sun-scorched Pilbara, promised to knit together gigawatts of wind and solar, churning out green hydrogen and ammonia for export to Asia. When BP bought a 40 percent stake in 2022, executives hailed AREH as a “cornerstone” of the firm’s net-zero agenda. Two years later, the tone has changed. After a blunt internal review, the company concluded that the expected returns simply could not compete with those from drilling rigs and LNG trains already humming elsewhere on its balance sheet.

Investors have applied their own pressure. With oil prices comfortably above pre-pandemic levels, shareholders are demanding fatter dividends and buybacks now, not in a decade. That urgency clashes with the long timelines and uncertain revenue models that still dog large-scale green hydrogen schemes. Rising construction costs and patchy policy support have only sharpened the contrast.

BP’s partners—InterContinental Energy and CWP Global—insist AREH remains viable. They’re courting fresh capital and may bring in a new operator. Canberra, too, is standing by, eager to turn Australia’s vast renewable resources into an export engine that rivals iron ore. Yet the departure of a blue-chip name like BP is a sobering reminder: decarbonising the global energy system is less a sprint than a marathon, with plenty of bruising mile-markers along the way.

For local communities, the news lands with mixed emotions. Some worry about delayed jobs and infrastructure; others see an opening for more community-focused developers to take the reins. Either way, the Pilbara’s wind still howls and the desert sun still bakes—waiting for someone to harness them.

BP, meanwhile, returns its gaze to assets it knows best. The company says it remains committed to net-zero by 2050, but its cheque-book tells a clearer story: profit now, pivot later. Whether that bet pays off in a carbon-constrained future is a question only time—and perhaps a few restless investors—will answer.