Oil price fall hits green energy

Terry Macalister
The Guardian, Tuesday 20 January 2009

BP's green energy arm is under pressure from plunging oil prices and the credit crunch, its chief executive admitted yesterday.
Vivienne Cox, chief executive of BP Alternative Energy, said it would be "foolish" to deny it was harder to get cash for projects in the current climate.
"Like everyone else, we are looking at our total capital budget and we will tell you in February how we are placed," she said.
"It would be foolish to say there are no limits on capital spending in the existing portfolio."
Cox was speaking during the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi, where she warned delegates about a shortage of debt and equity financing in the wider renewables sector.
BP group's fourth-quarter figures are due next month, when it may outline capital expenditure levels for 2009-10.
Oil companies are under pressure because oil prices have plunged from highs of $147 last summer to below $40. Some firms have cut spending, especially on high-cost oil projects such as tar sands schemes in Canada.
Environmentalists say BP's carbon-intensive tar sand schemes in North America sit uneasily with the wind and solar schemes pursued by Cox.
Cox denied it was a contradiction for the group to do both, saying the world needed all kinds of energy to meet growing demand.