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.”

Amanda 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.”

Helge Lund was appointed chair of the bp board on 1 January 2019. He served as chief executive of BG Group from 2015 to 2016, when it merged with Shell. He joined BG Group from Equinor (formerly Statoil) where he served as its president and chief executive officer for 10 years from 2004. Prior to Equinor, Helge was president and chief executive officer of the industrial conglomerate Aker Kvaerner, and has also held executive positions in the Norwegian industrial holding company, Aker RGI, and the former Norwegian power and industry company, Hafslund Nycomed. He worked as a consultant with McKinsey & Company and served as a political advisor for the parliamentary group of the Conservative party in Norway. Prior to joining bp, he was a non-executive director of the oil service group Schlumberger from 2016 to 2018, and Nokia from 2011 to 2014. He served as a member of the United Nations Secretary-General’s Advisory Group on Sustainable Energy from 2011 to 2014.

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