Oct 19, 2017

BP chair Carl-Henric Svanberg to retire after 8 turbulent years

BP has launched the search for a new chairman after announcing that Carl-Henric Svanberg will step down after a turbulent eight years in the post. The handover comes at a time when BP is refocusing on growth after years of asset sales and cost cuts in response to the Deepwater Horizon disaster followed by the 2014 oil price crash. Mr Svanberg, 65, who also chairs truckmaker Volvo and was previously chief executive of Ericsson, the Swedish telecoms group, drew criticism for BP's initial, faltering response to the disaster, which killed 11 men and spilled at least 3m barrels of oil. Mr Svanberg, who had no direct experience of the oil industry before joining BP, gradually won over investors alongside Bob Dudley, the American who succeeded Mr Hayward as chief executive in 2010 and remains in the post. In a statement to announce his departure on Thursday, Mr Svanberg admitted that his first two years in the job had been "Incredibly challenging" as BP "Navigated an unusually complex corporate crisis".

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