(Bloomberg) — BP Plc Chief Executive Officer Bernard Looney will be resigning, the Financial Times reported, citing two people it didn’t name.
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The company’s American depositary receipts rose as much as 2.9% on the news. BP declined to comment.
Looney oversaw an effort to transform one of the world’s most significant oil explorers into a post-fossil fuels powerhouse, before pulling back on some of the most ambitious aspirations and reviving spending on crude and natural gas.
A University College Dublin-trained electrical engineer, Looney is a BP lifer, working his way up through the chain of command from drilling engineer to chief of exploration before his elevation to CEO in early 2020.
The report comes one month after the London-based company raised its dividend by 10% and said it would buy back another $1.5 billion of shares. These large cash payouts from BP and rival oil majors have drawn some criticism at a time when many households are grappling with a cost-of-living crisis and the world needs huge amounts of investment into low-carbon energy.
At the same time, BP’s profit fell by more than expected in the latest quarter as the surge in energy prices that spurred last year’s record earnings abated.
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