BP’s Chief, Bernard Looney, Resigns Over Relationships

BP, the London-based oil large, stated on Tuesday that its chief government, Bernard Looney, had resigned after acknowledging that he had not been “fully transparent” in disclosing his previous private relationships with colleagues.

In a 2022 investigation, Mr. Looney acknowledged “a small number of historical relationships with colleagues” earlier than changing into chief government two years earlier, and BP concluded that he had not breached its code of conduct, the corporate stated.

But the corporate stated it had just lately obtained info that prompted one other investigation, resulting in Mr. Looney’s resolution to resign. “He did not provide details of all relationships and accepts he was obligated to make more complete disclosure,” BP stated. It didn’t elaborate on the relationships.

The firm stated Murray Auchincloss, the chief monetary officer, would substitute Mr. Looney on an interim foundation.

Mr. Looney, 53, led a shake-up on the firm, the place he spent his profession. He changed senior executives with outsiders and, in response to local weather issues, started to regularly scale back exploration and manufacturing of oil and pure gasoline in favor of lower-carbon power like offshore wind and biogas in addition to giant charging networks for electrical autos.

This yr, nonetheless, Mr. Looney stated BP would trim fossil-fuel output extra slowly than beforehand introduced. The transfer was properly obtained by monetary markets due to the corporate’s earnings from oil and gasoline, however it was criticized by environmental teams.

Mr. Looney, who’s Irish, joined BP in 1991 as a drilling engineer and labored within the North Sea, Vietnam and the Gulf of Mexico, together with on the Thunder Horse discipline, a high-profile challenge. He additionally labored as an government assistant to 2 earlier chief executives, Tony Hayward and John Browne.

For almost 4 years earlier than changing into chief government, Mr. Looney had headed BP’s upstream business, which explores for oil and gasoline and extracts it on the market to world markets, and had secured offers to promote the corporate’s long-held oil fields in Alaska for $5.6 billion and to accumulate the United States shale drilling belongings of BHP Billiton.