Ex-BP boss Bernard Looney to miss out on up to £32million in pay, bonuses and shares for ‘serious misconduct’ after he ‘knowingly misled’ board about personal relationships with colleagues

•  The oil giant will also ‘claw back’ some of the money already paid to the tycoon

Former BP chief executive Bernard Looney will miss out on up to £32.4million in pay, pension and bonuses, after the firm said he committed ‘serious misconduct’ in misleading its board about past relationships with colleagues. 

The company dismissed the Irishman without notice and said he will not receive further salary or benefits from the dismissal date, December 13, nor will he be paid an annual bonus.

The oil giant will also ‘claw back’ some of the money already paid to Mr Looney, including 50 per cent of the cash bonus handed to him in 2022, when he was paid a total of £10million, including £8.4million in bonus and share awards.

BP said in a statement: ‘Following careful consideration, the board has concluded that, in providing inaccurate and incomplete assurances in July 2022, Mr Looney knowingly misled the board.

‘The board has determined that this amounts to serious misconduct, and as such Mr Looney has been dismissed without notice effective on 13 December 2023. This decision had the effect of bringing Mr Looney’s 12 month notice period to an immediate end.’

Former BP chief executive Bernard Looney will miss out on up to £32.4million in pay, bonuses and shares, the company said

BP is now reportedly under pressure to claw back millions in bonuses paid to Mr Looney

After news of his resignation broke, insiders claimed that the tycoon had a ‘reputation’ for workplace flings before he became CEO 

Chief Financial Officer Murray Auchincloss has been acting as interim CEO while the oil firm conducted a probe into accusations on Looney and a search for Looney’s successor. 

More than £2billion was wiped from BP’s share price in the wake of Mr Looney’s shock departure in September.

He resigned after admitting that he had not been ‘fully transparent’ during a probe in 2022 following allegations about his private life. 

After news of his resignation broke, insiders claimed that the tycoon had a ‘reputation’ for workplace flings before he became CEO. 

The reasons behind Mr Looney’s resignation go back to May last year when BP was alerted by an anonymous source to claims about his past relationships. 

After it launched a review, Mr Looney ‘disclosed a small number of historical relationships with colleagues prior to becoming CEO’ but was found not to have breached BP’s code of conduct.

After his resignation BP’s market valuation dropped from £90.8billion to £88.2billion and dragged London ‘s FTSE 100 lower

The board ‘was given assurances by Mr Looney regarding disclosure of past personal relationships as well as his future behaviour’. 

Further allegations then emerged in September, reportedly made by a female whistleblower, over a relationship Mr Looney had not previously disclosed.

Mr Looney subsequently ‘informed the company that he now accepts that he was not fully transparent in his previous disclosures’, BP said, adding that he ‘did not provide details of all relationships’. 

BP has now added that assurances given to them in July 2022 were ‘incomplete’, and that he ‘knowingly misled’ the board – amounting to ‘serious misconduct’.

This is a breaking news story, more to follow.

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