BP permacrisis overshadows strategic success
BREAKINGVIEWS-BP permacrisis overshadows strategic success The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.
By Yawen Chen
LONDON, May 26 (Reuters Breakingviews) - BP’s BP.L endless series of leadership crises might not look out of place in Downing Street. The $110 billion UK oil major may be in a better place than it has been for years, but the abrupt departure of newish Chair Albert Manifold shows how difficult it is to escape a cycle of self-inflicted damage. While investors might forgive occasional operational mistakes or commodity price swings, repeated boardroom upheaval is harder to overlook.
Manifold’s exit after less than eight months in the role is especially jarring because he had become part of BP’s new investment case. Citi analysts note that some investors had bought into the stock after years of turbulence because he was seen as a chair who would drive a sharper focus on hydrocarbons, which ultimately led to the appointment of former Woodside WDS.AX executive Meg O’Neill as chief executive. BP shares have risen around 40% since he was appointed in July.
The problem is that BP keeps generating fresh scandals, and handling them clumsily. The company said only that “serious concerns” over governance standards, oversight and conduct forced Manifold’s immediate removal. Still, the company did not publicly state that the dismissal would not impact its financial statements, which may have contributed to the share price decline of up to 9% at one point on Tuesday. People close to the matter told Breakingviews the issues were instead repeated instances of “bullying, verbal abuse and mishandling company information” in ways that breached confidentiality obligations. Breakingviews could not immediately reach Manifold for comment.
Manifold's exit is unlikely to derail BP's current strategy to focus on oil and gas. But it may still pose awkward questions for the board. Given the company’s history of abrupt departures - from former CEO Bernard Looney to earlier eras under Lord Browne and Tony Hayward - the board could have been expected to be particularly careful when picking a new chair. The risk is that the endless boardroom churn may make potential candidates less keen to replace Manifold, limiting checks on O'Neill, who only joined in April.
BP already appears undervalued: including debt, it is worth roughly 5.6 times trailing cash flow, on Citi's numbers, a 5% discount to Shell SHEL.L and some 30% below continental European peers such as TotalEnergies TTEF.PA and Eni ENI.MI. Manifold's abrupt exit is one reason why the group's discount may prove stubbornly durable.
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CONTEXT NEWS
BP said on May 26 it had removed Chairman Albert Manifold with immediate effect, citing “unacceptable” governance oversight and conduct issues.
Manifold was appointed to the role in October 2025.
The energy major said it had appointed Ian Tyler as interim chair while it starts searching for a permanent replacement.
BP shares were down 9.3% as of 1136 GMT on May 26, on track for their biggest daily decline since March 2020. The losses narrowed to 4% as of 1355 GMT.
(Editing by Neil Unmack; Production by Oliver Taslic, Pranav Kiran)
((For previous columns by the author, Reuters customers can click on CHEN/yawen.chen@thomsonreuters.com))
