Commenting on the change, BP CEO Tony Hayward said, "Bob Malone has made an extraordinary difference during his tenure at BP America and during his long career with BP. We are a better company because of his ability to connect with the men and women who operate and maintain our facilities and his unflagging commitment to safe [image-nocss] operations. All of us at BP appreciate what he has done and wish him well in his next endeavors."
A member of the BP PLC executive management team, McKay (pictured) has led the company's special projects team since early 2008. In that capacity, he played a major role in establishing a new governance model for TNK-BP, BP's Russian joint venture. Prior to that assignment, he served as executive vice president and COO for BP America and, according to the company, he brings "deep knowledge" of BP's U.S. operations to his new position.
McKay joined Amoco Production Co. as a petroleum engineer in 1980 and later served in a variety of operating and commercial roles. During his career he has led upstream production businesses in the Arkoma Basin, the Gulf of Mexico and the North Sea. After working on the BP-Amoco merger, he led BP's worldwide exploration and production strategy efforts followed by a posting as chief of staff for the company's global exploration and production business. Prior to his first assignment with BP America, he served as group vice president for Russia and Kazakhstan.
Malone took the helm of BP America in June 2006 when the company was grappling with operational mishaps that had sapped BP's competitive edge as well as public and investor confidence in the company, said a report by The Houston Chronicle.
Those included the March 2005 explosion at BP's Texas City refinery that killed 15 people, two leaks from a critical Alaskan oil pipeline system, a propane trading scandal and design flaws that delayed the startup of its Thunder Horse oil and gas platform. Less than two months after taking the helm, Malone acknowledged to a congressional committee that the repeated problems had generated questions about BP's credentials and accusations that the company had profited at the expense of employee safety. He insisted he was committed to restoring confidence and operational integrity and that he had been "given the authority, the resources and the people" to make it happen. Three more deaths occurred at the Texas City plant while it was undergoing a $1 billion overhaul, one each year since the blast.
Browne, who led BP's transformation from a sleepy British company into a global oil and gas giant with significant U.S. operations, abruptly quit in May 2007 not because of the mishaps, but upon the disclosure that during a court battle with a London tabloid, he had lied to a judge about how he met his former companion, said the report.
Hayward, then head of global exploration and production for BP, succeeded Browne and pledged to improve performance, remove unnecessary layers of management left over from BP's 1999 merger with Amoco and restore confidence. A few months later in October 2007, BP struck plea deals to resolve its criminal liability in cases involving the blast, trading and the pipeline leaks. The trading and pipeline issues were resolved quickly, but a Houston federal judge has yet to accept or reject the deal stemming from the blast after explosion victims challenged it.
The announcement of Malone's retirement comes just days after the Texas City plant regained ability to operate at full capacity of 475,000 barrels a day. Also, Thunder Horse started pumping in 2008, three years after its initial startup date, the report said.
BP markets more than 15 billion gallons of gasoline every year to U.S. consumers through 13,000 BP, ampm and other retail outlets. London-based BP is the single, global brand formed by the combination of the former British Petroleum, Amoco, Atlantic Richfield (ARCO), ARAL and Burmah Castrol.
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.