BP replaces chairman amid return to oil and gas

Telegraph

3 days ago

BP has replaced its chairman as the FTSE 100 oil giant faces pressure from shareholders to switch its focus away from renewables and back to fossil fuels.
Albert Manifold, who was chief executive of the building materials company CRH for a decade, will take over from Helge Lund, who announced his departure three months ago.
Mr Manifold will take charge in October at a crucial for the company – as it struggles with a debt mountain, poor share performance and a reputation tarnished by its disastrous 2020 commitment to cut fossil fuel output by 40pc.
Mr Lund had strongly backed the drive towards renewables led by disgraced former chief executive Bernard Looney, who abruptly resigned in September 2023 after failing to disclose relationships with employees.
Mr Lund has been under increasing pressure over that debacle, announcing plans to step down in April but remaining in place pending the appointment.
Dame Amanda Blanc, an independent director at BP, said incoming chairman Mr Manifold had shown as 'impressive track record of shareholder value creation at CRH'.
She said: 'Albert has a relentless focus on performance which is well suited to BP's needs now and into the future. He transformed and refocused CRH into a global leader by building on its rich heritage to deliver superior growth, cash generation and returns.'
Mr Manifold said the job would give him the 'the opportunity to help the company reach its full potential'. Mr Manifold is currently a non-executive director at chemicals producer LyondellBasell Industries and at consultant Mercury Engineering.
Turbulent times for oil giant
The uncertainty over BP's leadership comes amid wider turbulence, including unrest among shareholders and a targeted campaign by activist US hedge fund Elliott for more change at the company.
It has also had to deal with weeks of speculation over a potential takeover by rival Shell. The energy giant was forced to issue a public denial, ruling itself out of a bid for BP for six months.
Mr Manifold's appointment is like to stoke further speculation about BP's future as a UK listed company. In September 2023 during his tenure as CRH boss, Mr Manifold moved the company's primary stock market listing from London to New York.
BP is also in the middle of a fire sale of $20bn (£14.8bn) worth of assets by 2027, including as much as $4bn this year.
This month alone has seen BP announce the sale of its 300 Dutch petrol stations and its entire US wind farm business. The sale of its Austrian retail network also progressing.
Finding a new chairman had proved challenging for BP after approaches were understood to have been turned down by Sam Laidlaw, the former Centrica chief executive, and Ken Mackenzie, the former BHP chairman.
Mr Laidlaw was reported by the Financial Times as having withdrawn because he thought BP would either have to be sold to a rival or undergo painful restructuring.
Mr Lund was appointed chairman of the BP board in January 2019. He was previously president and chief executive of Equinor, the Norwegian state oil company.
He oversaw BP's 2020 appointment of former chief executive Mr Looney, together announcing plans to shift away from oil and gas, proposing a tenfold increase in green energy investment and a 40pc reduction in fossil fuel production by 2030.
Mr Lund said at the time: 'We are confident that the decisions we have taken and the strategy we are setting out today are right for BP, for our shareholders, and for wider society.'
But shares have since BP underperformed as its competitors instead bet on rising demand for oil.
At BP's capital markets day in February, chief executive Murray Auchincloss formally reversed the controversial policy and announced a complete reset – including halting investments into renewable energy and selling green assets.
However, Mr Lund left investors worried when, at the same event he said the decision to move back towards fossil fuels was 'a new chapter for the company … but not a new direction'.
He announced his departure in April just two months later.