Friday, September 29, 2023

BP's US boss to leave company weeks after CEO Looney



By Ron Bousso
Fri, September 29, 2023 

LONDON (Reuters) -BP's top executive in the United States, Dave Lawler, is leaving the company, the energy company said on Friday in a memo to employees just weeks after BP's chief executive Bernard Looney resigned from the company.

Lawler's departure piles pressure on BP's Chairman Helge Lund and board as they seek to project stability in the wake of Looney's abrupt resignation earlier this month after less than four years in the top job for failing to fully disclose details of past personal relationships with colleagues.

The United States is the largest single country for BP's operations. It includes oil and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico and onshore shale basins, several refineries as well as large investments in offshore wind, biogas and retail.

Lawler, 55, joined BP in 2014 and has led BP's shale business, known as BPX Energy, since.

He oversaw BP's $10.5 billion acquisition of BHP's onshore shale assets, which turned it into one of the top producers in the Permian oil basin.

Lawler, chairman and president of BP America, is leaving "to pursue new career opportunities," the memo seen by Reuters said. The FT was first to report the news.

Orlando Alvarez will replace Lawler as head of BP America. Alvarez will continue in his role as senior vice-president gas and power trading, Americas. Kyle Koontz will take over as chief executive officer for BPX energy, the memo said.

(Reporting by Ron Bousso in London, Juby Babu in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar and Daniel Wallis)

Another BP Executive Departs With US Head Resigning

Laura Hurst
Fri, September 29, 2023



(Bloomberg) -- BP Plc.’s US president David Lawler is leaving the British oil giant, becoming the second top executive to quit this month after Chief Executive Officer Bernard Looney abruptly resigned.

Lawler, who had been with BP for nine years, “has notified us of his intent to pursue new career opportunities outside of BP,” according to a memo to employees confirmed by the company. He will be replaced by US gas trading executive Orlando Alvarez as president of BP America Inc. Kyle Koontz, a vice president, will take over as CEO of BPX Energy, BP’s shale production division.

The high-profile departure comes only two weeks after Looney resigned, admitting to not fully disclosing relationships with colleagues. The reshuffling of leaders in the US, where BP has a bigger economic footprint than any other country, is a further sign of turmoil at a company recently forced to appoint an interim CEO and CFO, start a high-pressure search for a permanent CEO and handle questions over its board’s governance record.

In a memo Executive Vice President William Lin thanked Lawler. “During his tenure, BPX saw improvements in safety, emissions, production and financial performance, as well as the acquisition of BHP assets in 2018,” it said.

Denver native Lawler oversaw BP’s entry into the Permian Basin with the $10 billion purchase of shale oil assets from BHP Billiton Ltd. in 2018. While the operations struggled with methane pollution and inadequate infrastructure for the first few years, they are now primed to be some of BP’s fastest-growing oil assets, with a targeted production increase of 30% by 2025.

Alvarez will continue as senior vice president of gas and power trading in the region in addition to his new role. Koontz previously was vice president of development at BPX and will report to Gordon Birrell, executive vice president of production and operations.

The shock resignation of Looney thrust the company into the spotlight over employees’ personal relationships amid a campaign by its board to convince investors and staff that they have control of the crisis. Murray Auchincloss, previously chief financial officer, took over as interim chief executive officer and Kate Thomson was named interim chief financial officer, the first woman in that role.

“During periods of change, it is especially important that we stay focused on the three things Murray asked of us: safety, performance and the drive to 2025,” Lin said in the memo.

--With assistance from Kevin Crowley.

Bloomberg Businessweek

BP Ends Its Week of CEO Chaos With Many Unanswered Questions

CEO search is underway after sudden resignation of LooneyBoard has sought to reassure investors and employees

Bernard Looney.Photographer: Prakash Singh/Bloomberg

September 16, 2023 

After several days of chaos, BP Plc is ending the week without a permanent leader and with significant doubts over its strategy.

The shock resignation of Chief Executive Officer Bernard Looney has thrust the energy giant’s board into the middle of a hurried recruitment process, a sensitive investigation into employees’ personal relationships, and a campaign to convince investors and staff that they have control of the crisis.

There’s little indication that any of these things are close to resolution.

“It’s been mismanaged,” said William Granger, a partner at law firm Wedlake Bell who specializes corporate governance, reputation and boardroom issues. “Of all the ones we’ve seen over the years, this was unusually fast.”
Shock Resignation

On Tuesday, 53 year-old Looney told BP he was resigning as CEO with immediate effect, having earlier in the day informed the board he had not been fully transparent in his disclosures over past relationships with colleagues. Chief Financial Officer Murray Auchincloss took on the additional role of interim CEO.

The announcement was sudden, shocking and disorganized. BP shareholders and employees first heard news of Looney’s departure from the Financial Times, waiting more than an hour for public confirmation from the company. Shares rose, then fell, then rose again as markets digested the implications.

Within 24 hours, BP Chairman Helge Lund and his investor relations team were calling top shareholders, which include the likes of BlackRock Inc, Vanguard Group Inc and Norges Bank, to explain what was going on.

Lund told investors that the company was sticking to its strategy, would search for a new CEO among both internal and external candidates, and ruled himself out of the running for the top job. That left a lot of unanswered questions about the company’s trajectory.

“The communications from the board were not clear on a path forward in terms of timing, replacement, search pool, strategy — all important questions,” said Bret Bero, assistant professor of practice in management at Babson College in Boston.

BP’s share price did eventually stabilize and ended the week little changed from Tuesday.
Questions Unanswered

In a webcast with employees on the same day, Auchincloss reiterated the message of continuity. “Today, just like every day in BP, we go to work in the field, in our refineries, in offices, at sea, at our retail sites,” he said.

He was joined by Lund and the Executive Vice President of People and Culture Kerry Dryburgh. Yet the call was short and it didn’t give staff the opportunity to ask questions, leaving many of them wondering what the company’s future looks like, particularly in the clean energy business, according to people who listened into the call.

Employees in BP’s low-carbon and sustainability divisions need only look to rival Shell Plc to see what difference a new CEO can make. It followed a similar trajectory to its London-based peer, announcing ambitious “net zero” plans under now-retired boss Ben van Beurden. Wael Sawan, who took Shell’s top job on the first day of this year, has already begun selling off some businesses associated with that policy.
Relative Strength

BP is no stranger to dramatic exits.

Three out of the last four CEOs resigned under pressure. John Browne in 2007 after lying in court in an effort to prevent a newspaper from publishing details of his personal life. His successor Tony Hayward was forced out in 2010 after mishandling the response to the Deepwater Horizon disaster.

For all the shock caused by the latest CEO exit, the business itself is healthy.

“Looney’s successor will, to some degree, inherit a position of relative strength,” said Russ Mould, Investment Director at AJ Bell. “BP is profitable, generating cash and debt is a lot lower than just a few years before and oil prices are rising. The situation looked a lot, lot blacker in 2010 after the Gulf of Mexico spill.”

But whoever becomes BP’s new CEO won’t only have to deal with operational matters. The ongoing inquiry into the reasons for Looney’s departure could be lengthy, potentially raising questions about whether the company conducted proper due diligence, Bero said.

If that is the case, BP’s terrible week might only be the beginning.

“The board has to continue investigating because the stock market is entitled to know what happened here,” said Granger. “It takes months and sometimes years for these things.”

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