Barclays keeps 1,000p target price for BP shares ahead of CMD

(Sharecast News) - Analysts at Barclays stood by their 1,000.0p target price for shares of BP ahead of the oil major's next capital markets day. The analysts said BP would likely provide a 'deep dive' on restructuring efforts in the upstream operations and low-carbon bits of the portfolio over the past three years.

However, management was also expected to emphasise "just how much" BP's free cash flow was expected to grow in the back half of 2023 through the current asset base.

Indeed, at the 2020 CMD, when then chief executive officer set out the "Reimagining Energy" strategy, BP had perhaps not highlighted the potential of its core businesses, they said.

Nonetheless, no changes to the 2023 financial framework were anticipated, nor details on that for 2024.

They also highlighted how BP had been the only European outfit to register a decline in upstream operating expenditures over the preceding 12 months.

Among the questions they sought answers to were:

Why were assets previously to be divested now core to the strategy?

How significant was the digital productivity advantage?

Can capex really be kept under control?

BP was scheduled to celebrate its CMD and host a 'field trip' in the U.S. during the week beginning on 10 October.

Barclays's recommendation on the shares remained at 'overweight'.