BP Names New Head

BP has named a new CEO, confirming plans for Bob Dudley to bow out next year after a decade at the helm.

Bernard Looney, the head of BP’s upstream division, will take on the top role when Dudley steps down on February 5 2020, the company said in a statement on October 4. Dudley will retire at the end of March.

BP chairman Helge Lund noted that Dudley had been appointed CEO “at probably the most challenging time in BP’s history.”

The US-born Dudley assumed the position just months after the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, which led to 11 deaths. BP had to pay out more than $60bn in compensation and other costs over the following years. Dudley succeeded the Briton Tony Hayward, a protege of John Browne, also a geologist. Hayward's failure to demonstrate sufficient concern over the tragedy led to calls in the US for his departure.

Lund said Dudley had since “rebuilt BP as a stronger, safer company and helped it re-earn its position as one of the leaders of the energy sector.”

Commenting on Looney’s appointment, Lund said: “As the company charts its course through the energy transition this is a logical time for a change. Bernard has all the right qualities to lead us through this transformational era.”

For the last five years, the company – along with its peers – has had to adjust first to a "lower for longer" oil price and now to the rising hostility to oil and gas companies, which has led to the cancellation of sponsorship deals. The UK Royal Shakespeare Company has become the latest beneficiary to refuse any more of BP's cash.

Looney, an Irish citizen joined BP in 1991 and has been managing its upstream operations since 2016. The 49-year-old will be paid an annual salary of £1.3mn ($1.6mn) as well as bonuses and a pension allowance of 15% of his salary.