The chair of BP has announced plans to step down from the struggling oil company after growing shareholder opposition derailed its net zero agenda.
The oil company said on Friday that Helge Lund planned to leave his post “in due course” once a successor has joined the board, which would “most likely” be in 2026.
His decision to step down from the role, which he has held since 2019, comes after the board was forced to reverse the company’s green agenda to defend it against Elliott, a feared New York hedge fund known for its attempts to shake up listed companies.
Elliot began to build a multibillion-pound stake in BP earlier this year after growing dissatisfaction among shareholders over the company’s plan to curb its fossil fuel production in favour of green investments.
It was widely expected that the activist investor would call for a boardroom shake-up at BP, including the ousting of Lund, who played a leading role in setting the green agenda that ultimately failed to convince shareholders.
The net zero strategy was set by the former BP chief executive Bernard Looney, who was appointed by Lund in 2020 to transform the oil company into an integrated energy company.
However, the shift was undermined by a rise in global oil and gas prices – which handed bumper profits to companies growing fossil fuel production – and the shock departure of Looney after failing to fully disclose to the board past relationships with BP colleagues.
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BP’s current chief executive, Murray Auchincloss, set out a “fundamental reset” of the company’s strategy weeks after Elliott took aim at the company.
Auchincloss promised investors cuts of more than £4bn from its low-carbon investment plans in favour of a return to growing fossil fuel production. The plan angered climate campaigners and did little to appease BP’s investors, who have seen BP’s shares underperform compared with its rivals.
Lund 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.”
Lund had also faced pressure from the shareholder activist Follow This, a climate campaigner, which planned to vote against the chair at BP’s annual shareholder meeting later this month.
On Friday, Mark van Baal, the founder of Follow This, said: “The new chair needs to be climate and transition competent and resistant to short-term activists. BP made a strategic U-turn in panic mode after an alleged short-term activist bought shares in BP. We hear a lot of frustration from long-term investors on this aspect.”
Lund was at the centre of a high-profile storm over a £25m remuneration package to lure him to BG Group, formerly the exploration arm of British Gas that was acquired by Shell for £47bn in 2015.
The Norwegian joined BG Group in 2014 after a stellar 10-year career transforming Statoil, now known as Equinor, from a local operator in Norway into a global oil and gas company.
A shareholders’ revolt forced BG Group to amend Lund’s pay package to ensure his earnings would be more closely linked to company performance.
Amanda Blanc, the boss of Aviva and a senior independent director at BP, will lead the search for a new chair.
