BP boss Bernard Looney quits over conduct allegations

The boss of oil group BP has resigned four years into the job amid unspecified allegations about his conduct and personal relationships with colleagues.

Bernard Looney, 53, quit “with immediate effect” after spending his entire career with the energy group.

Murray Auchincloss, the company’s CFO, will act as chief executive on an interim basis.

A statement from BP said that Mr Looney had not been “fully transparent” in disclosing past relationships with colleagues to the board.

It 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.”

No breach of the company’s code of conduct was found, but BP added: “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 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.”

BP said that “no decisions have yet been made in respect of any remuneration payments to be made to Mr Looney”.

The BP boss had found himself increasingly isolated and the target of criticism as rival oil and gas groups, including Shell, rowed back on pledges to reduce investments in fossil fuels and increase those in renewables.

The executive has faced growing criticism from shareholders for refusing to scale back his energy transition strategy after ceding some ground earlier this year, despite investors penalising the group over its plan to break away from rivals in cutting oil and gas output.

Under shareholder pressure, BP softened its plan to scale back oil production by 2030, to a reduction of 25 per cent from 2019 levels from 40 per cent previously, but it remained the most radical transition to renewables among the major oil companies.

Mr Looney laid out ambitious plans for the energy company to move to achieving zero net emissions by 2050, and to invest billions in renewable and low-carbon power.

Earlier this month, the chief executive said he wouldn’t be slowing its shift away from hydrocarbons any further.

“We’re holding our nerve on the transition,” the 53-year-old Irishman said in an interview with Reuters in his office at BP’s headquarters in central London.

“I believe that’s what the world needs. And I believe it’s our job to prove that is in the long-term interests of our shareholders.”