After ousting former CEO Looney on December 13 due to his failure to disclose past relationships with employees, British oil giant BP managed to reclaim £1.8 million ($2.3 million) from his 2023 pay package. The company announced on Tuesday that its board determined Looney, who led the oil and gas company since 2020, had intentionally provided false information to fellow directors when they sought assurances about his commitment to disclosing any such relationships in the future. As a consequence, Looney forfeited bonuses and share awards amounting to £3 million, which were subsequently canceled.
During his tenure as chief executive, Looney had made a big splash with ambitious plans to reinvent the 114-year-old company by cutting oil production and investing in low-carbon and renewable energy businesses. But he was forced to water down those ambitions after rumors of personal entanglements in the office began to swirl. The firm’s internal probe uncovered “new and additional matters,” which led to the decision to dismiss him, BP said in a news release.
Looney’s remuneration totaled 1.175 million pounds last year, but the company said his bonuses and share awards were canceled because he failed to disclose the allegations. BP’s board also voted to reduce his annual bonus by 30% and cut his long-term incentive plan rewards by half. The remuneration cuts are part of a more extensive reworking of the company’s compensation practices after the Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster.
The company’s current strategy focuses on reducing oil output to boost cash flow while growing its low-carbon business. This could help it capitalize on the world’s shift from fossil fuels. It is aiming to be a zero-net-emissions company by 2050 and invest billions in alternative energies.
BP’s underlying RC profit – a key measure of performance that strips out the effects of asset sales, restructuring costs, and the impact of foreign exchange rate movements – rose to $13.8 billion in 2023 from $6.7 billion in the previous year. The company returned a record amount to shareholders through dividends and stock buybacks.
Adjusting items include gains and losses on the sale of assets, impairments, environmental provisions, reorganization charges, fair value accounting effects on finance debt, and the effect of buying back financial assets. The company discloses these items separately because management considers them important and relevant to the period-on-period analysis of results. They are disclosed to enable investors to better understand and evaluate BP’s reported financial results.
