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The president of BP, Helge Lund, has announced plans to resign after a mandate in which the oil commander tried to get away from fossil fuels only to reverse the course this year.
The company said Friday that Lund, who has been president since 2019, had notified the Board of his plan to resign, “most likely for 2026”. The search for a successor will be directed by Amanda Blanc, senior independent director of the Board, added BP.
Lund’s departure occurs after BP in February abandoned a five -year radical strategy to reinvent itself as a green energy company. The change followed the news that the activist investor Elliott Management had created a participation of about 5 percent in the company and was pressing for radical changes after a long period of low performance.
The arrival of the US Coverage Fund. Uu. Presented the pressure on Lund, which had already become the object of growing criticisms of other shareholders.
Lund, who was previously executive director of Norway Equinor and Gas Company BG Group, received two main responsibilities when he assumed the position of president of BP: to select an executive director and supervise the development of a new strategy.
His efforts on both fronts have encountered problems. Lund’s choice for the executive director, Bernard Looney, was fired for not completely revealing the Board of Past Relations with BP colleagues in 2023. Then, the aggressive change towards renewable energy, which he directed with Looney, was finally abandoned in February.
“We do not expect many to be surprised with this announcement,” said Biraj Borkhataria, RBC capitalist Markets. “For several investors we have talked about, Helge was seen as the main architect of the previous strategy, while also appointed the previous CEO, which finally led to a low material price performance for many years.”
Some shareholders have also questioned how Lund has divided their time between BP and Novo Nordisk, the Danish drug manufacturer that has presided since 2018 and whose shares price has been reduced by half since last summer.
Lund’s successes in BP include supervising their rapid decision to leave Russia only three days after President Vladimir Putin launched the large -scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. BP was the first important western business to decide to leave, establishing a precedent that most of the large Western groups followed.
In 2022, BP also enjoyed the most profitable year in its 116 years of history, informing profits of more than $ 27 billion after the invasion of energy markets.
Last month, Lund announced that BP would hire two new directors, expanding their board to 12 people in what some saw as an attempt to prop up their own position on the face of Elliott’s activism.
However, after reverse the strategy to focus on green energy, other members of the BP Board recognized that Lund’s position had become unsustainable, according to a person familiar with the thinking of some members of the Board.
Samuel Johar, president of the Buchanan Harvey Board firm, said it was the “right decision” to prepare for Lund’s departure. “Amanda [Blanc] Now you must name a heavyweight chair that can restore credibility to BP and have a vision of the CEO. “
Executive President Murray Auchincloss, who has been under pressure to improve BP performance, was promoted to superior work after working as head of finance before Looney’s departure in September 2023.
In a statement, Lund said: “Now is the right time to begin the process to find my successor and enable an orderly and perfect delivery.”
Blanc said he would direct a “comprehensive search” of “candidates with credibility and relevant experience to lead the Board and continue to promote the safe execution of the restart strategy.”
