News that Murray Auchincloss has been confirmed as BP’s new chief executive may boost hopes that its North Sea oil and gas business will remain an important part of the group.
The energy giant announced that directors had decided to leave Mr Auchincloss in post after he became acting chief executive following the shock resignation of Bernard Looney in September.
BP said then that Mr Looney had informed the company that he had not been fully transparent in his previous disclosures about historical relationships with colleagues.
Analysts said the appointment of Mr Auchincloss increased the likelihood that BP would stick with the strategy developed by Mr Looney, who underlined his faith in the North Sea business even as he developed plans to transform the group.
Mr Auchincloss effectively acted as deputy to Mr Looney as he aimed to grow BP into a broader-based energy business that could support the global drive to net zero by investing heavily in low carbon energy sources.
READ MORE: Humza Yousaf's green jobs boast rings hollow after boom hopes fade
Describing BP as great company with great people, Mr Auchincloss said yesterday: “Our strategy – from international oil company to integrated energy company … does not change. I’m convinced about the significant value we can create.”
After taking charge in 2020 Mr Looney said BP’s oil and gas production would be reduced. However, he decided to slow the pace of the reduction amid the surge in oil and gas prices fuelled by Russia’s war on Ukraine.
In a presentation to analysts by BP directors in February last year Mr Looney said: “We have a strong oil and gas business in the North Sea.”
Mr Auchincloss played an important part in the development of the North Sea business as chief financial officer of the unit from September 2008 to April 2010.
His tenure covered a period during which BP reached an advanced stage in planning for multi-billion pound developments off Shetland.
READ MORE: Shetland oil potential excites majors as offshore wind drive stalls
In 2011, BP sanctioned plans to bring the Clair Ridge field into production and to revamp the development spanning the Schiehallion and Loyal fields.
Both developments are expected to be in production for years. BP has highlighted the margins it achieves on production off Shetland.
Mr Auchincloss grew up in Canada and has family roots in Scotland. He has worked in the oil and gas industry since 1992 when he joined Amaco, which merged with BP in 1998.
The 53-year-old will earn a base salary of £1.45million as BP chief executive.
Helge Lund, chair of BP, said the group’s board had considered a number of high-calibre candidates for the chief executive’s job in detail and was in complete agreement that Mr Auchincloss was the best choice.
READ MORE: 100 million barrel oil and gas find to stoke interest in North Sea
Mr Auchincloss has held a range of senior roles in finance and management at BP, including serving as chief of staff to then BP chief executive Bob Dudley from 2010 to 2013. Mr Auchincloss joined the BP board as group chief financial officer in July 2020.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel