Bernard Looney has resigned from his role of CEO of bp, effective immediately, according to a bp statement. Murray Auchincloss, the company’s CFO, will take over as interim CEO of the oil company.
In May 2022, bp’s board received and reviewed allegations relating to Looney’s personal relationships with company colleagues. During the review, Looney disclosed a small number of relationships with colleagues prior to becoming CEO and no breach of the company’s code of conduct was found. The board was, however, given assurances by Looney that he disclosed all relevant information.
Further allegations of a similar nature were recently received, and the company began investigating with an external legal counsel. That process is ongoing.
- bp is No. 7 on CSP's 2023 Top 202 list of largest U.S. c-store chains by store count.
Looney informed bp on Tuesday that he was not fully transparent in his previous disclosures, and did not provide details of all of his relationships, bp said. He accepted that he was obligated to make more complete disclosure.
"The company has strong values and the board expects everyone at the company to behave in accordance with those value," bp said in the statement. "All leaders in particular are expected to act as role models and to exercise good judgement in a way that earns the trust of others."
Looney (pictured, photograph courtesy of bp) has spent his entire career at bp, joining as an engineer in 1991, and has held a number of operational and managerial positions, including in Alaska, the Gulf of Mexico, Vietnam and the UK North Sea, according to the company's website. He was appointed CEO in 2020.
bp did not immediately respond to CSP’s request for additional comment Tuesday.
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.