BP Chairman’s Ouster Is Corporate Self Sabotage At Its Finest

In a rather inconvenient display of corporate dysfunction, BP announced on Tuesday the immediate removal of its chairman, Albert Manifold, just months after he took the helm and weeks after the company reported a robust $3.2 billion quarterly underlying profit. The board cited “serious concerns” over “important governance standards, oversight and conduct” that it deemed unacceptable. Shares plunged nearly 10% on the news, underscoring the market’s frustration with yet another leadership upheaval at one of the world’s largest energy companies.

This latest bit of boardroom theater comes at a time when BP had hoped to be laser-focused on delivering value in a volatile energy landscape. Manifold, a former CRH plc CEO with no prior oil and gas experience, was appointed in October 2025 as an outsider to drive a strategic reset after the company’s decades of misallocating too much capital towards unprofitable “green” investments.

His job was to champion a faster pivot back to hydrocarbons, cost-cutting, asset sales, and board streamlining, moves targeted by activist investors like Elliott Management.

And the plan was working. In late April, BP delivered strong Q1 2026 results: underlying replacement cost profit doubled year-over-year to $3.2 billion, beating expectations, driven by exceptional oil trading and refining margins amid geopolitical tensions, including the Iran conflict. CEO Meg O’Neill hailed the results as “another quarter of strong operational and financial delivery.”

But now, instead of building on this momentum, the board pulled the trigger on Manifold. Senior Independent Director Amanda Blanc stated: “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.”