BP chair Helge Lund to step down

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BP chair Helge Lund has announced plans to step down after a bruising tenure in which the oil major abandoned an aggressive shift away from fossil fuels.

The company said on Friday that Lund had notified the board of his plan to “step down in due course”. The search for a successor will be led by Amanda Blanc, the board’s senior independent director, BP added.

The departure of Lund, who has been chair since 2019, comes as BP in February ditched a radical strategy to reinvent itself as a green energy company.

“Now is the right time to start the process to find my successor and enable an orderly and seamless handover,” said Lund, who had previously led BG Group.

Blanc said: “We are starting a comprehensive search to identify chair candidates with the credibility and relevant experience to lead the board and continue driving management’s safe execution of the reset strategy.”

This is a developing story