Mitchell Ferman and Ruth David
BP unexpectedly fired chairman Albert Manifold just months into the job due to serious concerns about “governance standards, oversight and conduct,” prolonging a period of turmoil at the UK oil major.
BP has had three chief executive officers in as many years, while Manifold’s predecessor left in 2025 amid pressure from activist investor Elliott Investment Management. The latest sudden departure raises fresh questions about the company’s processes at a time when it is seeking to turn around years of poor performance, rebuild its balance sheet and focus on its core oil and gas business.
The chairman’s removal consolidates the authority of Meg O’Neill — Big Oil’s first female CEO and BP’s first external hire for the top job — who joined on April 1 from Australia’s Woodside Energy and has already moved to reshape the company. Manifold, a former construction materials executive, has been broadly popular with several key investors for his decisive moves to win back investor confidence since his appointment late last year.
“Manifold had been credited with the push to simplify the company and accelerate the turnaround,” Berenberg analyst Henry Tarr said in a note.
“His sudden removal will raise questions on the strategy of the company and the reasons for the ongoing churn of executives and board members.”
BP’s shares fell 4 per cent to £5.29 in London.
“The board has been surprised and disappointed to learn of governance oversight and conduct issues it deems unacceptable and has taken decisive action,” senior independent director Amanda Blanc said in a statement.
High pressure
Manifold stepped into the role of chairman on October 1 at a time of intense pressure for BP, as Elliott pushed for urgent change. The company’s efforts to reset its strategy after a failed pivot to renewables weren’t winning over investors. His predecessor, Helge Lund, had seen a significant protest vote against his reelection to the board that year, with just 76 per cent support.
While the new chairman lacked oil and gas experience, he oversaw a more-than-fourfold increase in the shares of Irish building-materials firm CRH Plc during his 11 years as CEO. After joining BP, he urged employees to go faster in unwinding failed green bets and boosting investments in fossil fuels. He took charge of a thorough review of the company’s portfolio to cull underperforming assets.
His first big move was the sudden removal last year of chief executive officer Murray Auchincloss and the appointment of O’Neill — previously the head of Australia’s Woodside Energy, where she had spent four years in the top job.
Manifold’s early moves were welcomed by Elliott, which he met with multiple times, according to people familiar with the matter. Elliott declined to comment.
New CEO
O’Neill announced just two weeks into her role that the company would return to a more traditional upstream-downstream model, in a move that continues the reversal of changes made under Auchincloss’ predecessor Bernard Looney. Looney himself was forced by BP’s board to step down in September 2023 after he failed to disclose past relationships with colleagues.
The board appointed Ian Tyler as interim chair; he said in the statement that BP’s leadership still has “deep conviction in the strategic direction we have laid out” and has been “very impressed with Meg O’Neill since she joined as CEO.”
The renewed leadership uncertainty could revive questions about whether BP may become a takeover target. A period of prolonged speculation last year eventually prompted rival Shell to announce it had no intention of making a bid. Shell has since agreed to buy Canadian oil and gas producer ARC Resources Ltd. for $US13.6 billion.
Manifold’s brief tenure as chairman was marked by some controversy — the company suffered a shareholder backlash last month after refusing to put a resolution from an activist group up for a vote at its annual general meeting.
Two resolutions proposed by management, which would have allowed fully virtual annual meetings and revoked previously approved climate-related disclosure obligations, were rejected. Manifold received a lower-than-normal share of the vote approving his reelection to the board.
However, prior to news of Manifold’s departure, investors had welcomed many of the changes he ushered in. BP’s shares had outperformed some of its rivals as it moved to shore up its balance sheet, although a decision to suspend share buybacks in February left the company as the only one of the top five oil majors without a share repurchase program.
“With a resurgent share price so far this year, BP should be taking credit for the rewards of its strategic reset,” said Lindsey Stewart, director of institutional investor content at Morningstar.
“Instead, the company is on its third CEO and now its third chairman in under three years. It’s clear that getting a grip on corporate governance and strategy at the company must be a priority of the interim chair and his eventual successor.”
Bloomberg
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