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Chairman says search for permanent CEO started - sources
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Interim CEO Auchincloss to focus on 2025 targets - sources
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Interim CEO was central in setting strategy
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Looney resigned on Tuesday after misconduct allegations
(Rewrites with details from town hall)
By Ron Bousso and Dmitry Zhdannikov
LONDON, Sept 13 (Reuters) - BP Chairman Helge Lund told staff on Wednesday the company would "hold the course" on its energy transition strategy following CEO Bernard Looney's abrupt resignation, company sources told Reuters.
BP's board has started searching both internally and externally for a new permanent chief executive, Lund said in a town hall meeting with staff, according to sources in the meeting, which lasted around 10 minutes.
A company spokesperson declined to comment.
The board named Chief Financial Officer Murray Auchincloss as interim CEO after Looney resigned on Tuesday over allegations of personal relationships with company colleagues that surfaced recently, prompting the company to launch an investigation.
That followed similar allegations the BP board investigated in May 2022, after which Looney had given assurances of his future behaviour, according to a statement.
Looney took the top job in February 2020 with a vow to reinvent the British oil giant, and has since led it through a radical transformation with plans to become a net-zero emissions company by 2050.
The 53-year-old Irishman scaled back the strategy earlier this year, but BP still stands out among rivals as the only oil major with plans to cut oil and gas output by 2030 by 25%.
Investors have responded coolly to the strategy, with BP's shares underperforming peers since Looney took over, although they have risen more than rivals since the February revision.
Auchincloss worked closely with Looney in devising BP's strategy in recent years.
The Canadian national who joined BP in 1998 has advocated a focus on high-return assets partly by leaning more heavily on BP's legacy oil and gas assets that boosted profits to a record $28 billion last year, according to two company sources.
And he is unlikely to change the strategy, sources told Reuters earlier.
"Murray is already the power behind the throne, he has been key in all the major decisions. The strategy is owned by the board and it is unlikely to change," one company source told Reuters.
"Delivering our 2025 targets remains our prime focus."
BP shares were down 1.4% at 1240 GMT, compared with a 0.1% decline for the broader European energy index.
BP plans to invest $55-$65 billion in solar and wind power, biofuels, hydrogen and other low-carbon businesses by 2030, when they will account for half of capital expenditure.
BP's strategy came under renewed scrutiny after rival Shell slowed down its energy transition strategy in June, scrapping plans to cut oil output.
But while the BP board could opt to make some small changes, the strategy is unlikely to change, a source close to the company said.
"(The BP board) have enough flexibility within the current strategy to focus more on cash flow," a second source close to the company said.
"No-one wants to go out again and say that they will do less on climate change."
(Reporting by Ron Bousso, Dmitry Zhdannikov and Shadia Nasralla; editing by Jane Merriman and Mark Potter)
