Time to wrap up….

BP has removed its chair, Albert Manifold, with the oil company’s board saying it had “serious concerns about “important governance standards, oversight and conduct”.

The FTSE 100 company announced Manifold’s departure with immediate effect on Tuesday, without giving further details. He lasted only eight months in the role.

BP’s share price slumped by 9% in the minutes after the announcement just before lunchtime in London before recovering to a 4.5% decline, making it the FTSE’s top faller and wiping over £3.5bn off its value.

Amanda Blanc, the senior independent director at BP and chief executive of the insurance company 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.”

The Financial Times reported that Manifold had been seen as “too aggressive” by. other directors, with one person close to BP’s board describing him as “shouty”.

Here’s the full story:

In other news…

The Brent crude oil price has climbed back to $100 a barrel this afternoon, up 4.2%, as investors await signs of progress in the US-Iran peace talks.

The average UK petrol price has hit its highest since Demember 2022 today, despite oil being lower than its recent peak of $126/barrel at the end of April.

UK government borrowing costs fell, on hopes of a resolution to the Middle East crisis that might ease inflationary pressures

BP’s next chair needs to get a proper grip on the company, argues Lindsey Stewart, director of institutional investor content at investment research firm Morningstar.

Stewart cites BP’s decision to exclude a resolution at last month’s AGM that would have forced it to describe how it would protect shareholder value if demand for oil and gas falls.

Stewart says:

“At this point it’s fair to say BP has the most volatile boardroom of the oil supermajors. The company’s decision to exclude a shareholder proposal that appear to have ticked all the boxes to be voted by shareholders needlessly antagonised a wide swath of investors and again raised questions about governance and oversight at the company.

With a resurgent share price so far this year, BP should be taking credit for the rewards of its strategic reset. Instead, the company is on its third CEO and now it’s third chairman in under three years. It’s clear that getting a grip on corporate governance and strategy at the company must a priority of the interim chair and his eventual successor.”

Around £3.5bn has been knocked off BP’s stock market valuation today, as investors react to the removal of chair Albert Manifold.

The company was worth £86.1bn at the end of last week, but has seen its shares fall by over 4% so far today.

Maurizio Carulli, global energy analyst at wealth managers Quilter Cheviot, reminds us how much top-level churn there’s been at BP in the last two decades.

“The announcement of Albert Manifold’s departure is certainly a surprise, albeit BP has had more than its fair share of senior personnel leaving the company abruptly over the past 20 years, including former CEOs Lord Browne, Tony Hayward, Bernard Looney and Murray Auchinchloss, albeit all with very different individual circumstances leading to their departure.

[We covered Looney and Auchinchloss earlier. Browne resigned in 2007 after lying to a court about his relationship with another man, while Hayward quit in 2010 over his handling of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster].

Carulli adds:

“Whilst the news is obviously a short-term negative, it is important to remember that BP has made significant operational improvements and strategic refocusing over the past year, and this is the result of the successful efforts of the entire organisation and its management, not just of one person.

Furthermore, Albert Manifold had been Chair for only 8 months, so apart from being part of the Board’s decision to appoint new CEO Meg O’Neill, his impact was necessarily limited by the short period of time being in the role.”

Albert Manifold’s exit raises two questions for BP shareholders, says Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB:

Firstly, Manifold was brought in to spearhead the transition back to oil and gas, after a disastrous foray into renewables. Will his removal threaten his transition or delay this process? He was considered a hands on and controversial chair, and managed to survive a shareholder rebellion last month. He reportedly clashed with new CEO Meg O’Neil, so this could be a win for her, but it comes at a high price and a lurch lower in for the shares.

Added to this, Manifold’s ousting is the second major executive replacement at BP for conduct reasons in 3 years. Former CEO Bernard Looney was replaced in 2023 due to failings in his personal conduct. The fact that Manifold has left so soon raises genuine concerns about HR policies at BP, and the corporate culture. It also suggests a lack of stability at the firm, which is bad news for shareholders.

The Financial Times are reporting that Albert Manifold was ousted from BP after being too aggressive, and “shouty”, with colleagues.

They say:

Manifold, a former chief executive of Irish building supplies group CRH Plc, was viewed by other directors as too aggressive, according to two people familiar with discussions inside BP.

They said that Manifold at times spoke down to senior members of staff, both in one-to-one encounters as well as in larger meetings, where he is said to have belittled senior figures in front of colleagues.

He was described by one person close to BP’s board as “shouty”.

Albert Manifold’s surprise departure is the latest in a series of changes at the top of BP in recent years.

His predecessor, Helge Lund, decided to step down in April 2025 amid pressure from investors including activist Elliott Management, who had lobbied BP to reverse its green energy agenda.

That net zero strategy was set by the former BP chief executive Bernard Looney, who resigned in September 2023 after failing to fully detail relationships with colleagues.

Looney was replaced by BP’s chief financial officer, Murray Auchincloss, who abandoned that green transition strategy before being ousted last December.

Albert Manifold is “seen as the architect of the company’s most recent turnaround”, points out Bloomberg columnist and energy expert Javier Blas on X, explaining why BP’s shares have dropped by over 5% since news of the chair’s removal broke.

BP says a succession process for a permanent chair to replace Albert Manifold will now start.

In the meantime, it has appointed senior independent director Ian Tyler as interim chair with immediate effect.

Tyler says:

“The Board and leadership team have deep conviction in the strategic direction we have laid out, and the company is moving at pace to deliver it. bp is building a track record of strong underlying operational performance and a tight focus on financial discipline - all in the pursuit of growing shareholder value and returns.

Tyler also pays credit to BP’s new CEO, Meg O’Neill, who joined the company at the start of April, saying:

“The Board has been very impressed with Meg O’Neill since she joined as CEO. She has extensive industry and operational experience and real clarity about the direction and opportunity for the business. She has already taken bold action to simplify and strengthen the organization such as announcing the move to a clearly defined upstream/downstream model. Under her leadership we are building a simpler, stronger, more valuable bp.”

BP’s share price has been hit by the shock removal of chairman Albert Manifold.

They were briefly down 9%, forcing a short halt to trading – and are now down over 5%.

Newsflash: The board of oil giant BP has removed chairman Albert Manifold from his role with immediate effect.

Announcing the shock move to the City, BP says “serious concerns” have been raised related to “important governance standards, oversight and conduct.”

Amanda Blanc, senior independent director at BP, told shareholders:

“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 was only appointed as BP’s chair less than a year ago, in July 2025, as the energy giant cut back on green spending and returns its focus to oil and gas.

Manifold had previously run building material company CRH.

He also suffered a shareholder rebellion last week, when about 18% of shareholders voted against his re-election as chair.

UK petrol prices have hit their highest level since the Middle East conflict started.

The average price of petrol is now at an Iran war high of 159.43p, the RAC has reported.

That’s the highest level since December 2022, and 26.6p more expensive than it was on 28 February, the day the conflict began.

That’s despite oil having slipped back in recent weeks. Back on 30 April Brent crude traded above $126 a barrel – it’s now slightly below $100 in somewhat volatile trading today.

It means a 55-litre tank of petrol for an average family size car now costs £87.69 which is £14.63 more expensive than it was on 28 February.

Diesel prices, though, are below their recent peak set in mid-April. A litre of diesel costs, on average, 184.96p today, a fall of 6.58p since it peaked on 15 April.

This is the first sime since 1 April that diesel has cost below 185p a litre, the RAC say.

Even so, filling a 55-litre tank of diesel would now cost £101.73 – £23.42 more than it was at the start of the war.