BP has removed its chair, Albert Manifold, with the oil company’s board citing serious concerns about “important governance standards, oversight and conduct”. The FTSE 100 company announced Manifold’s departure with immediate effect on Tuesday, after only eight months in the role.
BP’s share price slumped briefly by 9% in the minutes after the announcement before closing down 4%. Amanda Blanc, senior independent director at BP and chief executive of Aviva, said: “Albert has helped bring a welcome focus and pace to BP’s transformation. However, the board has been surprised and disappointed to learn of governance oversight and conduct issues it deems unacceptable and has taken decisive action.”
Manifold’s conduct was considered too aggressive by other directors, and he was seen as trying to exert control in the manner of an executive rather than a chair, according to reports. The Financial Times reported that senior colleagues felt belittled by Manifold, and that newly installed chief executive Meg O’Neill had bristled at some of his interventions. BP and Manifold were approached for comment.
Manifold was appointed as BP’s chair in October 2025, after serving as chief executive of CRH, and was tasked with refocusing on fossil fuel extraction and ditching renewable energy investments. He ousted former chief executive Murray Auchincloss and hired O’Neill in December. Manifold is the second senior leader at BP to lose his job for conduct reasons within three years, following Bernard Looney’s departure in 2023.
BP will now start a search for its third chair in two years. Ian Tyler, a board member and former chief executive of Balfour Beatty, has been appointed interim chair with immediate effect. Tyler gave O’Neill strong backing, saying the board had been “very impressed” and that she had “real clarity about the direction and opportunity for the business”.
