bp today announced that the company’s board of directors has initiated a succession process to select a new chair, after Helge Lund informed the board of his intention to step down in due course.
The succession process is being led by Dame Amanda Blanc, in her capacity as senior independent director, with support from the wider board.
It is intended that the successful candidate will join the board and work together with Helge to ensure an orderly transition ahead of taking on the role of chair, at which point Helge will step down from the board, most likely during 2026.
Whilst this succession process progresses, the board’s focus will remain on overseeing management’s delivery of the new strategy and this will continue to be their key priority under the new Chair.
Helge said: “Having fundamentally reset our strategy, bp’s focus now is on delivering the strategy at pace, improving performance and growing shareholder value. Now is the right time to start the process to find my successor and enable an orderly and seamless handover. The board and I are committed to supporting Murray and his team, and to overseeing bp’s delivery of its strategic and financial objectives as we set out in our recent Capital Markets Update.”
Blanc said: “We are starting a comprehensive search to identify chair candidates with the credibility and relevant experience to lead the board and continue driving management’s safe execution of the reset strategy.”
This announcement contains inside information. The person responsible for arranging the release of this announcement on behalf of BP p.l.c. is Ben Mathews, company secretary.
