Fired BP chair disputes oil company’s claims of poor conduct

The ousted chair of BP, Albert Manifold, has accused the oil company of firing him without warning and disputed reports about his conduct, amid the latest boardroom turmoil to rock the company.In an emailed statement, Manifold said he was “removed without warning and without explanation” by the FTSE 100 company.He added: “I dispute entirely the characterisation of my conduct and I will not allow a false narrative to go unchallenged.”BP announced Manifold’s departure with immediate effect on Tuesday after less than a year in the role, expressing serious concerns ​about his governance standards, oversight and conduct.Manifold’s behaviour with different colleagues across the company was described as aggressive, according to reports. Reuters reported that the board received enough information after a whistleblower report to determine a pattern of unacceptable behaviour, according to a source.The Financial Times reported that senior colleagues felt belittled by Manifold, while he was also seen as trying to exert control as if he were an executive rather than a chair.Manifold was appointed as BP’s chair in October 2025, after serving as the chief executive of the Irish building materials company CRH.He was tasked with overseeing the continued change in the oil company’s strategy, to refocus on fossil fuel extraction and ditch renewable energy investments after the company’s abandoned attempt to reinvent itself as a net zero energy company under the former chair Helge Lund. Lund was pushed out by investor pressure, including from the US hedge fund Elliott Advisors.Meg O’Neill was hired by Manifold as the chief executive of BP after he ousted Murray Auchincloss; she joined the company at the start of April. Photograph: Edgar Su/ReutersManifold wasted little time on arrival at BP in ousting the chief executive, Murray Auchincloss, after less than two years in the role, and hired a former ExxonMobil executive, Meg O’Neill, in December.O’Neill, who most recently served as the head of the Australian oil company Woodside Energy, joined BP at the start of April. She is BP’s fifth chief executive since 2020 and is expected to accelerate the company’s shift away from renewables.Manifold said in his statement that he “worked to drive genuine change at BP – cutting costs, challenging excess, and holding the organisation to higher standards” and added the board had “acknowledged the focus and pace” he brought.BP signalled on Tuesday it would continue the strategy after Manifold’s departure, as it begins its search for its third chair in two years.The board member Ian Tyler, a former chief executive of the FTSE 250 infrastructure group Balfour Beatty, has been appointed as the interim chair while a search for a permanent replacement takes place.BP’s share price slid further on Wednesday morning, after closing down 4% on Tuesday after the announcement of Manifold’s departure.Rich McDonald, a financial markets presenter at the investing and trading platform IG, said Manifold’s firing represented “another leadership shock at one of Britain’s most important companies”, prompting the question “whether BP is becoming increasingly ungovernable”.