BP chief executive Bernard Looney has resigned from his position after telling the company that “he was not fully transparent in [his] previous disclosures” relating to past personal relationships with colleagues.

Looney was appointed to lead the company in 2020, after joining the company in 1991. In 2022, the board of BP received and investigated allegations relating to past personal relationships with colleagues but found no breach of conduct. Newer allegations were made in the last month and have led to Mr Looney’s resignation, with Chief financial officer Murray Auchincloss now leading BP until a replacement is found.

Whether the new CEO maintains a similarly ambitious (for such companies) energy transition strategy as compared to Mr Looney will be particularly interesting, although the ambition of that strategy had been somewhat wound back earlier this year.