Who is Bernard Looney? Meet the former CEO of BP - who has resigned over ‘past relationships with colleagues’

Bernard Looney, the CEO of BP, the leading oil and gas company, has announced his resignation after admitting that he failed to fully detail relationships with colleagues.

BP’s board of directors faces questions over what it knew about Looney’s personal relationships with colleagues as sources say there was speculation about his relationships at the firm long before he became CEO.

According to the Guardian, one senior energy industry source said it has been “going on for years” and there are “plenty of stories about his relationships with colleagues within BP”, adding “we’ve all heard them.”

The Guardian also reports that another source said: “What we have to remember is that he didn’t join BP a few years ago. He has been with the company his entire working life. They know him. Ultimately, this is about a corporate culture and BP’s corporate governance.”

On Tuesday night (12 September), the company informed investors that Looney “did not provide details of all relationships and accepts he was obliged to make more complete disclosure”.

The company said that in May last year, the board had received and reviewed allegations relating to Looney’s conduct “in respect of personal relationships with company colleagues” and the “information came from an anonymous source.”

BP said that during that review, Looney “disclosed a small number of historical relationships with colleagues prior to becoming CEO” but no breach of the company’s code of conduct was found. However, BP said its board “sought and was given assurances by Mr Looney regarding disclosure of past personal relationships, as well as his future behaviour”.

The oil giant added that “further allegations of a similar nature were received recently” and the company’s investigation into this is still “ongoing”.

Looney said he “accepts that he was not fully transparent in his previous disclosures” and “did not provide details of all relationships”, BP said.

The former BP CEO married in 2017 and divorced in 2019, less than three months before he became the Chief Executive of the company. His ex-wife, Jacqueline Hurst, is a life coach and released a book in 2021 where she speaks of a past marriage, stating that her husband “only married” to “be promoted” and he ended the marriage via a WhatsApp text message.

A senior oil industry source told the Guardian that “it’s absolute nonsense” to suggest that revelations about Looney’s relationships with colleagues “came to light this year”.

The source added: “It has been an open secret for some time, and the BP board must have known about his reputation before he was appointed as chief executive.”

His departure comes less than four years into his tenure after Looney had worked his way to the top and faced fierce criticism for his huge pay packets - which more than doubled last year.

BP said the company has “strong values” and its “leaders in particular are expected to act as role models and to exercise good judgement in a way that earns the trust of others.”

The company confirmed that its Chief Financial Officer, Murray Auchincloss, will act as CEO on an interim basis.

Looney worked for BP for 32 years, starting as a drilling engineer for the company in 1991 to becoming a member of the company’s executive management team from November 2010.

He worked his way up the ranks to chief executive officer of Upstream in 2016 - a post he held for four years before becoming CEO of BP. In this role Looney is responsible for all of the company’s oil and gas exploration, development and production activities worldwide.

The Upstream segment of the business included some 17,000 people operating across almost 30 countries and it produces around 2.6 million barrels equivalent of oil and gas a day.

At the time of his appointment as CEO of BP in 2020, BP’s chairman Helge Lund said Looney has “all the right qualities to lead us through this transformational era” as he has “deep experience in the energy sector.”

Not long into his new role Looney announced his intentions to transform BP into a net zero carbon company by 2050 - one of the most ambitious climate pledges in the industry.

At the time, in 2020, Looney said the transformation would be a gradual one and said oil and gas would remain a part of the company for “decades” but in a more “focused” way.

In 2022 its shareholders agreed to reduce emissions by 35% to 40% by the end of this decade. However, in February this year BP announced it is now aiming for a 20% to 30% cut so it could produce more oil and gas and extend the life of existing fossil fuel projects.

Looney said this was in response to increased concerns about energy security following the invasion of Ukraine.

The former CEO’s pay packet more than doubled last year, with his salary reaching £10m - earning more than 170 times more than his average employee.

This compares to £4.46m he earned in 2021 and £1.74m he received in 2020, meaning his salary has increased by nearly £9m over the three years since he first started as CEO.

Greenpeace UK’s head of climate Mel Evans said the government "must step in with a proper tax on the oil industry and its profits” instead of “allowing these huge payouts to end up in the pockets of CEOs.”