Bernard Looney, CEO of bp, has resigned with immediate effect after failing to fully disclose past relationships with colleagues.
Looney stepped down amid an ongoing investigation into allegations that he had engaged in personal relationships with colleagues that were not disclosed to the board.
In May 2022, the board received and reviewed allegations from an anonymous source relating to Looney’s conduct in respect of personal relationships with company colleagues.
During that review, Looney disclosed a small number of historical relationships with colleagues prior to becoming CEO and no breach of the company’s code of conduct was found.
However, further allegations of a similar nature were received recently, and Looney accepted that he had not been fully transparent in his previous disclosure.
Looney, an Irish citizen, joined bp in 1991 as a drilling engineer and worked in operational roles in the North Sea, Vietnam, and the Gulf of Mexico, before rising the ranks over the decades to become CEO in February 2020.
Murray Auchincloss, bp’s CFO, will act as CEO on an interim basis.
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