BP Ousts Chairman Albert Manifold after Board Flags “Serious” Governance Concerns

BBC, the Wall Street Journal, CNBC, the Guardian, and the Financial Times contributed to this report.

BP has suddenly removed chairman Albert Manifold after the board said it uncovered “serious concerns” tied to governance standards, oversight and conduct.

The move, announced Tuesday, sent BP shares tumbling as much as 9% before they recovered some ground. Manifold had been in the role for less than a year.

Amanda Blanc, BP’s senior independent director, said the board had been “surprised and disappointed” by the issues it found and had acted decisively. She did not spell out what went wrong.

Ian Tyler has been named interim chair with immediate effect, while BP begins the search for a permanent replacement.

“The board and leadership team have deep conviction in the strategic direction we have laid out,” Tyler said, adding that BP is pushing ahead with its turnaround and tighter financial discipline.

Manifold, the former boss of Irish building materials giant CRH, joined BP’s board in September 2025 and was appointed chair the next month. At the time, BP praised his “strong track record of strategic leadership and operational delivery.” That all looks rather awkward now.

His exit comes after a rough patch with shareholders. At BP’s annual meeting last month, nearly a fifth of investors voted against his election, a sign that some were already uneasy about governance. Climate activists had also clashed with the company after BP refused to include one of their resolutions, saying it had not been filed properly.

The boardroom shake-up lands just as BP is leaning back into oil and gas and away from renewables. It also follows a strong set of results, with first-quarter profit jumping to $3.2 billion after a sharp rise in oil prices and an unusually strong trading performance.

BP’s recent leadership history has been messy. Manifold’s removal comes after the company’s last chief executive, Murray Auchincloss, stepped down less than two years into the job, and before him Bernard Looney was forced out in 2023 over undisclosed relationships with colleagues.

For BP, the timing is messy, the optics are worse, and the board clearly decided it was time to act fast.