BP has ousted its chair Albert Manifold following “serious concerns” over governance standards, oversight and conduct, less than a year after he was appointed. Manifold served as chief executive of CRH for over a decade.
In a statement on Tuesday, BP said Manifold would step down as chair with immediate effect. The move comes just months after new chief executive Meg O’Neill was appointed to stabilise the company.
Amanda Blanc, BP’s senior independent director, 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 company did not give details of the alleged conduct or governance failings.
Several colleagues saw the level of control he exerted as more akin to that of an executive chair, according to these people. They said Manifold at times spoke down to senior members of staff, both in one-to-one encounters as well as in larger meetings. He was described by one person close to BP’s board as “shouty”.
BP said board member Ian Tyler would become interim chair. Tyler is an executive of building and utilities companies and has served as an independent non-executive director at BP since last April.
Manifold was appointed as the energy major’s chair in July last year, replacing Helge Lund after six troubled years steering the company.
The former chief executive of Irish building materials group CRH had survived an investor rebellion at BP’s annual meeting last month. More than 18 per cent of investors voted against his election, after advisory group Glass Lewis raised concerns about governance and recommended that investors oppose his re-election.
Born in August 1963, Manifold grew up in Templeogue in south Dublin. His parents ran a hardware shop in nearby Kimmage.
He played prop forward at Templeogue College in Dublin and went on to qualify as an accountant. He holds an MBA and a master’s in business studies from Dublin City University.
Having earlier worked in private equity in Dublin, Manifold joined Irish building materials giant, CRH in 1998 and took over as chief executive in January 2014.
He would go on to lead the company for almost 11 years, presiding over an almost 400 per cent surge in the share price as he moved the traditional seller of cement and other base materials into full-scale construction services.
Married with three children, Manifold has a home in south Wicklow. In BP’s annual report he was listed as being a non-executive director at chemical and polymer group, LyondellBasell Industries, holding a similar role with Mercury Engineering, and as an adviser to Clayton Dubilier & Rice.
Shares in BP fell 5.5 per cent on Tuesday afternoon following the announcement.
The UK-listed company, which has a market capitalisation of about £82 billion (€95 billion), has been characterised by instability since its decision to transform itself into a green energy group in 2020.
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It later reversed its decision but the path to regaining its status as an oil and gas producing heavyweight has been fraught with frequent management upheaval.
Irishman Bernard Looney was ousted as chief executive in 2023 after admitting he had failed to disclose the extent of past personal relationships with company employees.
He became the third BP chief executive to leave the company under a cloud since 2007 when Lord John Browne first stepped down following revelations he had lied to a UK court, while Tony Hayward stepped down in 2010 after the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
BP appointed ex-Woodside Energy executive O’Neill in December in a bid to steady the company’s operations, replacing Murray Auchincloss after less than two years in the role.
Tyler said BP’s board had been “very impressed” with O’Neill since she took on the role. The group’s leadership still had “deep conviction in the strategic direction we have laid out, and the company is moving at pace to deliver it”, he added.
BP said it would launch a process to find a new chair on a permanent basis. - Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2026
