Topline
BP CEO Bernard Looney is resigning due after not disclosing past personal relationships with colleagues, multiple news outlets reported Tuesday, three years after taking over as head of the British oil and gas giant.
Bernard Looney has run the British oil and gas company since 2020.
Key Facts
His resignation comes after failing to fully disclose past relationships with colleagues, BP told Bloomberg.
In May 2022, BP reportedly received and investigated allegations about Looney’s “conduct in respect of personal relationships with company colleagues,” BP told the Times, ultimately finding that while Looney did disclose past relationships, he did not breach conduct rules.
More recently the company said it received “allegations of a similar nature,” which the company is still investigating, the Times reported.
In the interim, Looney will be replaced by the chief financial officer, Murray Auchincloss, Bloomberg reported.
BP did not respond to Forbes’ request for comment.
Key Background
Looney is a longtime BP employee, starting with the British oil company in 1991 and working his way up the company ladder before becoming CEO in 2020. When he was appointed in 2020, BP said he was the right leader to take the company into an era of energy transition. Looney has advocated for some of the strongest emissions reduction within the major oil companies. He’s committed to cut the company’s emission to net zero by 2050, going further than other oil companies, but falling short of what many scientists have recommended to combat the ongoing effects of climate change. Under Looney’s leadership the company has also said it plans to develop around 50 GW of renewable power by 2030.
Tangent
Looney is not the first CEO to lose their job in recent years because of misconduct allegations. Former NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell left the company earlier this year due to an “inappropriate relationship,” and was accused of sexual harassment and sex discrimination by a CNBC anchor. In 2019, McDonald’s chief executive, Steve Easterbrook, was fired after engaging in a consensual relationship that violated company policy. The year before that, Brian Krzanich, Intel’s former CEO, resigned after the company discovered he’d engaged in a relationship with a subordinate and violated company policy.
Further Reading /[’
BP Chief Bernard Looney To Resign Over Past Relationships With Colleagues (Financial Times)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/anafaguy/2023/09/12/bp-chief-stepping-down-over-personal-relationships-with-colleagues/