Meed | BP CEO Bernard Looney resigns

BP CEO Bernard Looney resigns

13 September 2023

BP CEO Bernard Looney has resigned after less than four years on the job, the British energy producer has announced.

The resignation of Looney is effective immediately. The company’s chief financial officer, Murray Auchincloss, will serve as interim CEO, BP said in a statement on 12 September.

The change came as Looney informed the company that he was not “fully transparent in his previous disclosures” about relationships with colleagues before becoming CEO, London-headquartered BP said.

“In May 2022, the Board received and reviewed allegations, with the support of external legal counsel, relating to Mr Looney’s conduct in respect of personal relationships with company colleagues. The information came from an anonymous source.

“During that review, Mr Looney disclosed a small number of historical relationships with colleagues prior to becoming CEO. No breach of the Company’s Code of Conduct was found. However, the Board sought and was given assurances by Mr Looney regarding disclosure of past personal relationships, as well as his future behaviour.

“Further allegations of a similar nature were received recently, and the company immediately began investigating with the support of external legal counsel. That process is ongoing.

“Mr Looney has today [12 September] informed the company that he now accepts that he was not fully transparent in his previous disclosures. He did not provide details of all relationships and accepts he was obligated to make more complete disclosure.

“No decisions have yet been made in respect of any remuneration payments to be made to Mr Looney.”

The news of the resignation was first reported by the Financial Times.

Looney took over as CEO of BP in 2020 after previously leading BP’s upstream oil and gas business, focused on exploration and production.

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Indrajit Sen