Sam Laidlaw, the previous boss of Centrica, is among the many candidates being thought-about as the subsequent chairman of BP, Britain’s besieged oil and gasoline exploration large.
Sky Information has learnt that Mr Laidlaw is being thought-about by BP board members as a possible successor to Helge Lund, who introduced in April that he would step down.
BP’s chair search comes with the £62bn oil main in a state of disaster, as business predators circle and the tempo of its strategic transformation being interrogated by shareholders.
Elliott Administration, the activist investor, snapped up a multibillion pound stake in BP earlier this yr and is pushing its chief govt, Murray Auchincloss, to speed up spending cuts and ditch a string of renewable vitality commitments.
Mr Lund’s departure will come after almost 1 / 4 of BP’s shareholders opposed his re-election at its annual assembly in April – an unusually giant protest provided that his intention to step down had already been introduced.
BP’s senior unbiased director – the Aviva chief govt Amanda Blanc – is claimed to be transferring “at tempo” to finish the recruitment course of.
Quite a lot of distinguished candidates are understood to be in discussions with headhunters advising BP on the search.
Mr Laidlaw can be a logical option to take the position, having remodeled Centrica, the proprietor of British Gasoline, throughout his tenure, which resulted in 2014.
Since then, he has had an extended stint – which lately concluded – on the board of miner Rio Tinto, which has been warding off activist calls to desert its London itemizing.
He additionally established, after which offered, Neptune Vitality, an oil firm which was acquired by Italy’s Eni for almost £4bn in 2023.
Final December, Mr Laidlaw was appointed chairman of AWE, the government-owned physique which oversees Britain’s nuclear weapons functionality.
He additionally has robust household connections to BP, together with his father, Christopher Laidlaw, having served as its deputy chairman throughout an extended enterprise profession.
One individual near BP stated the youthful Mr Laidlaw had been approached about chairing the corporate throughout its earlier recruitment course of however had dominated himself out due to his Neptune Vitality position.
The standing of his engagement with BP’s search was unclear on Saturday.
One other individual stated to have been approached is Ken MacKenzie, who lately retired as chairman of the mining large BHP.
Mr MacKenzie headed BHP throughout a interval when Elliott held a stake within the firm, and is claimed to have a great working relationship with the investor.
Shares in BP have continued their downward trajectory over the past yr, having fallen by almost a fifth throughout that interval.
The corporate’s valuation hunch is reported to have drawn renewed curiosity in a doable takeover bid, with rivals Shell and ExxonMobil amongst these stated to have “run the numbers” in latest months.
Reviews of such curiosity haven’t elicited any formal response, suggesting that any deal is conceptual at this stage.
BP is racing to promote belongings together with Castrol, its lubricants division, which may command a value of about $8bn.
This weekend, BP declined to remark, whereas Mr Laidlaw couldn’t be reached for remark.
