BP CEO leaves after allegations of inappropriate relationships with staff

According to the oil giant, the reason for Bernard Looney’s departure is that he has not fully and completely informed the board about previous relationships he has had with group employees.
The oil company's board of directors investigated allegations last year that Looney (pictured) had personal relationships with company employees, but at the time found no violation of the company's internal rules. | Photo: Kamran Jebreili/AP/NTB
The oil company's board of directors investigated allegations last year that Looney (pictured) had personal relationships with company employees, but at the time found no violation of the company's internal rules. | Photo: Kamran Jebreili/AP/NTB
by marketwire

BP CEO Bernard Looney resigned from his position on Tuesday with immediate effect. The reason for the resignation is that Looney has not fully informed the board of the oil giant about previous relationships he has had with employees in the group, Bloomberg News reports.

Last year, the oil company’s board investigated allegations that Looney had had personal relationships with company employees, but at the time no violation of the company’s internal rules was found.

Recently, however, new allegations of the same nature have emerged, and the now former CEO acknowledged that he had not been sufficiently transparent in last year’s investigation.

”He did not provide details of all relationships and he accepts that he was obliged to provide more complete information,” BP says in a statement.

The oil company’s day-to-day management is temporarily taken over by CFO Murray Auchincloss.

BP’s US listing fell by 1.2% on Tuesday.

(Translated using DeepL with additional editing by Kristoffer Grønbæk)

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