BP's ousted chairman clashed with CEO before sacking, WSJ reports

BP's ousted chairman clashed with CEO before sacking, WSJ reports Fresh detail on Albert Manifold's removal points to a boardroom rupture at a major still mid-turnaround, with shares down 4.3% on the news. BP's ousted chairman Albert Manifold clashed with a fellow board director and held a fractious relationship with chief executive Murray Auchincloss in the months before his dismissal in the week of 2026-05-25, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday (2026-06-01), citing people familiar with the matter⁷. The detail fills in the story behind a removal BP had described only in the language of "serious" and "unacceptable" governance and conduct concerns^7,5. That matters because BP is a London-listed major in the middle of a strategy reset, and a chairman forced out for conduct after less than a year is not a clean break⁵. Manifold replaced Helge Lund as chair in July 2025⁵. He is already gone, removed with immediate effect by a board acting unanimously⁵. The market read it as disruption, not housekeeping. BP shares fell 4.3% to 527.4 pence as of 4:12 p.m. in London on the day of the announcement (2026-05-26), according to Rigzone⁶. A sacking that prolongs uncertainty at the top sits awkwardly with a company already fielding conflicting shareholder pressure over its direction⁶. The governance friction is not new at BP's top table. Lund, Manifold's predecessor, secured just under 76% of votes in favour of his re-election in 2025, a meaningful protest vote for a sitting chairman⁶. At BP's 2025 annual general meeting, Lund drew a near 25% vote against his re-election amid competing shareholder demands over the company's climate strategy⁵. So has the cost of leadership trouble. Former chief executive Bernard Looney's exit saw him forfeit around £32.4 million in remuneration⁵. Disorder at the top carries a price tag, and Manifold's removal reopens questions about board oversight that BP would rather have closed⁵. What the WSJ account adds is texture on the relationship between chairman and chief executive⁷. A chairman is meant to backstop the CEO, not feud with him. Auchincloss is running the turnaround; a chairman pulling against him, then removed for conduct, leaves the board's judgement on the original appointment open to scrutiny⁷. The backdrop is an oil market in flux, which raises the stakes on BP's internal stability. The UAE's move to loosen its ties to OPEC+ discipline has rattled the group's grip on supply, with Wood Mackenzie noting the country is among several irked by Saudi-Russia-driven policy⁴. CNBC reported that without UAE barrels, OPEC's global market share could fall below 30% for the first time, against more than 50% in the 1970s². UAE output could reach over 4 million barrels per day in the near term, up from 3.3 million before the war, with 5 million seen as possible, CNBC reported². Yet Wood Mackenzie cautions that with close to 2 million b/d of offshore production currently shut in, the UAE's room to lift supply in 2026 is constrained regardless of policy⁴. Britain's own exposure sharpens the point. The IMF has warned that Middle East conflict is feeding directly into higher prices, weaker growth and renewed pressure on households, with the United Kingdom among the most exposed European economies because of its gas dependence³. A wobble at one of the country's two oil majors is not the headline policymakers want³. There is a domestic policy thread too. UK government measures aimed at breaking the link between wholesale electricity and gas prices were broadly welcomed by industry, though firms warned the proposals must keep investment flowing, Montel reported¹. BP's capital decisions feed into exactly that question, and a leadership vacuum complicates long-horizon commitments¹. For now the unresolved risk is succession. BP has removed a chairman for conduct without, so far, the kind of public detail that would settle investor nerves, and the WSJ's account of a fractured relationship with the CEO only underlines how much rests on who takes the chair next^7,6. Watch for the board's next appointment and any further protest at coming votes. That is where the market will judge whether the removal in the week of 2026-05-25 was a clean-up or the start of something messier⁶.