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Looney resigned Tuesday “with immediate effect” amid an investigation into his relationships with colleagues.
New York
CNN
—
BP CEO Bernard Looney has resigned after admitting he had not been “fully transparent” about “historical relationships with colleagues”, according to a statement from the oil giant on Tuesday.
Murray Auchinclose, the company’s CEO, will act as CEO on an interim basis.
“In May 2022, the Board, with the support of external legal counsel, received and reviewed allegations of Mr Looney’s conduct in relation to personal relationships with company colleagues. This information comes from an anonymous source,” the statement said. During that review, Looney disclosed “a small number of historical relationships with colleagues prior to becoming CEO,” but did not violate the company’s code of conduct.
And similar allegations were received recently, BP said, adding that the company has launched an investigation, which is ongoing.
“Mr Looney has informed the company today that he accepts he has not been fully transparent in his previous disclosures,” the statement said. “He has not provided details of all relationships and accepts that he is obligated to make full disclosure.”
Looney, 53, had been president for less than four years (Bp) but started working at a London-based oil and gas company in 1991 at the age of 21. Looney has spent his entire career with BP and was promoted to CEO in July 2020. A company focused on reducing emissions.
Shares of the stock were trading down less than 1% on Tuesday afternoon.
Looney came into the role with big plans to reach zero net emissions by 2050 and spend billions on renewable energy.
Looney wrote that engaging high-carbon companies is essential to achieving climate goals 2021 in the CNN Commentary With Cristiana Figueres, former Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. “They must be part of the transition to low- and zero-carbon solutions if they are to have any chance of delivering on the promise of the Paris Agreement. And many companies want to do their part, and the world’s expectations are high that they will.
Under his watch, BP became the only major oil company with targets to cut oil and gas production this decade. Shareholders were not happy with the result, and BP shares lagged behind rivals such as Shell.Shell), Chevron (CVX) and ExxonMobil (XOM)
Recently, the loonie has scaled back some of those targets and increased spending on crude oil and natural gas.
BP missed profit expectations last quarter, but announced plans to increase its dividend by 10% and buy back another $1.5 billion in shares. Shares of the stock are up about 12.6% so far this year.
