Albert Manifold, chief executive officer of CRH Plc, speaks in an interview with Bloomberg TV on Tuesday, August 19, 2014 in London, England.
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exiled blood pressure Chairman Albert Manifold denied “lies” about his conduct and said he had “applied hard pressure and directly challenged people” during his short tenure at the British oil giant.
BP’s board announced Manifold’s dismissal on Tuesday, citing “serious concerns” about governance standards, oversight and conduct.
Multiple media outlets, citing unnamed sources, have reported that Mr Manifold, the former head of Irish building materials giant CRH, engaged in aggressive behavior with various colleagues during his eight-month tenure at BP.
In a scathing response issued on Thursday, Manifold said he accepted the board’s decision to remove him as chairman, but “I should not be allowed to lie about me or hide behind anonymity when commenting on my time at BP.”
Manifold said he feels the priorities of simplifying operations, accelerating cost change and strengthening the energy giant’s balance sheet are not necessarily shared by everyone, but said there is “a considerable distance between driving the organization with urgency and characterizing my actions as we are working now.”
He added that no one within the company had raised questions about his conduct while BP chairman.
Mr Manifold dismissed as “nonsense” media reports suggesting he wanted to take a more executive role at the London-listed company, saying he had only been to BP’s London headquarters for about 13 days in 2026.
He described BP as a company with “great prospects” and concluded the letter by saying that CEO Meg O’Neill, chief financial officer Kate Thomson and senior colleagues are “some of the nicest people I have ever worked with.”
A BP spokeswoman said the company was taking note of the former chairman’s comments. “We stand by our announcement. We have a duty of care to all of our employees, especially those affected by his actions,” a spokesperson said in an email to CNBC.
BP shares traded 0.4% lower on Thursday morning.
investor revolt
Manifold’s announcement of its exit from BP came as a surprise to many analysts and investors earlier this week, as the company is currently in the midst of a fundamental strategic restructuring. BP is looking to move away from renewable energy and back into oil and gas.
Former Woodside Energy president Meg O’Neill took over as CEO in early April and is leading the transformation.
Amanda Brann, BP’s senior independent director, said that while she appreciated Manifold’s contribution to BP’s ongoing transformation, the board was “surprised and disappointed to learn of the issues with governance oversight and what we believe to be unacceptable conduct.”
BP has appointed Ian Tyler as interim chair following Mr Manifold’s dismissal, noting that the process for succession to a permanent chair will begin.
Just last month, Manifold suffered an investor revolt at BP’s annual general meeting. A majority of shareholders, 81.8%, voted in favor of Manifold’s selection, following a controversial decision to block a proposal put forward by Dutch activist group Follow This.
Electing board members requires 50% of the vote and typically receives close to 100% support.
