BP CEO Bernard Looney resigns over past relationships with colleagues

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BP said Bernard Looney resigned as CEO after admitting he failed to disclose the extent of past personal relationships with colleagues.

Looney, 53, will be replaced by Murray Auchincloss, the oil major’s chief financial officer, “on an interim basis,” the company said in a statement on Tuesday.

BP said Looney told the company earlier Tuesday that he “had not been completely transparent in his previous disclosures.” “He did not provide details of all relationships and accepts that he is obliged to disclose more fully.”

BP’s announcement confirmed an earlier Financial Times report. Looney did not respond to requests for comment.

The departure has shaken the 113-year-old energy group, which is one of the most recognizable names in British business. Looney joined BP in 1991 at the age of 21, and has spent his entire career with the company. The Irish national was appointed CEO in 2020 to transform the oil producer into an integrated energy company and navigate the energy transition.

BP shares fell 1.3 percent in early trading Wednesday as investors digested Looney’s exit.

BP said that in May 2022, its board received and investigated “allegations” relating to “Lonnie’s conduct in relation to personal relationships with colleagues at the company.” During that review, the executive disclosed prior relationships before becoming CEO and the investigation found no conduct violations.

However, “further allegations of a similar nature have recently been received, and the company immediately began investigating with the support of external legal counsel,” it said, adding that the process is “ongoing.”

“All leaders in particular are expected to lead by example and exercise good judgment in a way that earns the trust of others,” BP said.

The sudden departure follows other corporate resignations in recent years linked to executives’ personal relationships with employees.

Since his appointment, Looney has overhauled BP’s strategy and led parts of the oil industry’s bid to transition to cleaner forms of energy.

Looney’s commitments to reduce the company’s emissions to net zero by 2050 have gone further than BP’s competitors. At the same time, he pledged to increase investments in low-carbon projects tenfold and build or acquire 50 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2030.

Lonnie grew up on a dairy farm in the west of Ireland. As a leader, he sought to present a more approachable personality than some previous executives.

“Those days where the president was the hero and the president knew everything and seemed impervious to anything…I think those days are over.”

Having built its energy strategy around Looney, his departure will leave the board scrambling to find a permanent replacement at a time when investors remain skeptical about some aspects of the company’s plans.

BP said it had not yet made a decision regarding “any remuneration payments” to be made to the outgoing CEO.

Additional reporting by Patrick Jenkins, Anjali Raval, David Sheppard and Arash Masoudi