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BP chief Lord Browne retires

British Petroleum will leave the company's president, Lord John Brown, who has held this post for the last 13 years, in a year and a half. The Financial Times reported on the upcoming resignation yesterday, noting that this had been discussed for a long time. “The board and John have agreed on his retirement when he turns 60 and a successor,” a company source told the newspaper. The Lord should make an official statement about his resignation today at a meeting of the company's management dedicated to the results of work for the second quarter, and the name of the new head of BP will be ready to be announced by the beginning of 2007, British media report. The Financial Times believes that with a high degree of probability, the head of the exploration and production department, Tony Hayworth, may become the president of BP. His current position best meets the company's most pressing task - increasing production volume. The Verkhovna Rada, however, promises to consider all possible candidates. According to The Telegraph, BP Chairman Peter Sutherland expects to select an executive director from candidates who have not previously worked for the company.

The overall list of applicants is not that large. It is understood to include Mr Hayworth's deputy Andrew Inglis, BP's safety and environment chief Iain Cann, downstream director John Manzoni, and the head of Russia's TNK-BP, Robert Dudley. Lord Brown himself is going to recommend a successor from the company's management.

Edmund John Philip Brown (full name Lord Brown) joined British Petroleum in 1966. It took him 30 years to take the post of head of the company. The president's salary today is approaching $6 million a year.

The years spent as head of BP were especially fruitful in Brown's career. During this time, the company has grown significantly geographically and financially. It managed to close the gap with its main competitor - industry giant Exxon Mobil - and in 1998 acquired the American Amoco for $57 billion. A little later, thanks to his efforts, the energy companies Arco and Castrol became part of the company. And in 1999, a significant breakthrough was made in another project of Lord Brown: BP took over a controlling stake in Solarex, one of the leading manufacturers of solar energy. Thanks to his successes, John Brown was awarded the title of knight in 1998, and three years later received the title of baron from Queen Elizabeth. BP came to Russia in the late 90s, bought a stake in Sidanco, and in 2003 it began to control half of TNK-BP - the signing of the deal agreement took place in the presence of state leaders Vladimir Putin and Tony Blair.

Now BP is Europe's largest oil company with oil reserves of 988.2 million tons and natural gas reserves of 1.3 trillion cubic meters. At the end of 2005, oil and condensate production amounted to 124 million tons, gas production - 84 billion cubic meters.

As the FT notes, financial director Byron Grout, legal adviser Peter Bevan and chief press secretary Roddy Kennedy announced their intention to leave the company after the master.

However, some shareholders came up with a proposal to extend Lord Brown's powers. As The Independent writes, this is advocated, in particular, by the Co-operative Insurance Society, one of the twenty largest owners of BP. "We see no reason why he should go when he would like to stay," said Ian Jones, a spokesman for a group of investors lobbying to extend the term of the current head of BP. Lord Brown himself has not yet spoken out about whether he wants to continue leading BP or intends to rest.

Denis UVAROV