BP Markets North Sea Oil Business Months After Firing Its Chairman
BP formally launched a sale of its North Sea oil business on Friday, while the company still lacks a permanent board chair after ousting Albert Manifold in May.
BP launched a formal process on Friday (2026-07-31) to sell its North Sea oil business, framing the move as a drive to simplify its portfolio and direct capital toward higher-return projects. The launch followed months of speculation about a potential disposal.6
The sale process opens with the company's boardroom still unsettled. In May, BP fired chairman Albert Manifold with immediate effect, less than a year into the role, citing "serious" and "unacceptable" concerns about governance standards, oversight and conduct. The board acted unanimously. No permanent replacement has been named.2,4
BP shares fell 4.3% to 527.4 pence on the day of Manifold's ouster, Tuesday (2026-05-26), as investors absorbed both the announcement and its implications for the company's internal controls.4 ICE Brent crude front-month was trading at $90.15 per barrel as of Wednesday (2026-07-29), a crude price that will shape how seriously prospective buyers approach the North Sea portfolio. [LIVE PRICES]
Manifold had replaced Helge Lund as chair in July 2025. His tenure lasted less than ten months. Lund's own exit was contested: at BP's 2025 annual general meeting, he received a near 25% vote against his re-election, driven by shareholder pressure over the company's climate strategy.2
The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that Manifold clashed with BP non-executive director Simon Henry and maintained a fractious relationship with chief executive Murray Auchincloss in the months leading up to his dismissal.5 But the specific conduct that prompted the unanimous board decision has not been disclosed publicly.
Yet the governance problems at BP did not begin with the chairmanship. Former chief executive Bernard Looney was also removed over conduct concerns, forfeiting around £32.4 million in remuneration.2 Consecutive conduct-related departures across the CEO and chairman roles, within a few years at the same company, is unusual for a major listed energy company.
Will Hares, senior energy analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, said that O'Neill, a recent joiner as of April 2026, and whoever is named as permanent chair "must rekindle investor confidence in the company's strategy and internal controls."3 That assessment was made at the time of the firing in late May. Two months on, with a significant North Sea sale now under way, the pressure behind that statement has grown.
The North Sea has attracted deal flow from other operators in the intervening period. Equinor and Aker BP executed a stakes swap covering assets in both the North Sea and Barents Sea on Friday (2026-05-22), describing the deal as an alignment on areas of joint interest on the Norwegian continental shelf.1 Any buyer assessing BP's portfolio will need to price late-life field economics and potential decommissioning obligations into their offer.
Completing a major asset disposal without a permanent chair in place leaves a governance gap at a moment when BP's board credibility with investors is already strained. Rigzone's reporting at the time of the ouster noted the board's move "prolongs" uncertainty at the company.4 How quickly a permanent chair is identified, and the credibility that person carries with investors, will likely shape how seriously buyers engage with the North Sea sale process.3