BP has taken an enormous risk by betting the farm on booming global demand for oil and gas as far out as the late 2030s, and retreating drastically from renewables and clean-tech investment.

The International Energy Agency warns that the world is heading for the largest glut of excess oil supply ever seen, with a fall in the structural price of crude to match. If the IEA is right, BP is condemning itself to a death spiral in a Faustian pursuit of quick profit.

The company has switched almost overnight from the green darling of the European “majors” to arch-villain under the........

© The Sydney Morning Herald