BP says staff must disclose all intimate relationships with colleagues or risk losing their jobs: report

By Louis Goss

BP PLC has told staff they must disclose any intimate relationships with colleagues or risk losing their jobs, Reuters first reported on Tuesday.

The London-headquartered energy company sent out a memo last week informing staff it had updated its conflicts of interest policy to require staff to disclose all intimate relationships with colleagues or risk being fired if they fail to comply, the company confirmed to MarketWatch on Wednesday.

BP's previous policy had only required staff to disclose relationships if they believed there was the potential for a conflict of interest.

In emailed comments, BP said it "periodically updates our compliance policies, procedures and systems."

The update to its conflicts of interest policy followed a review, "which included benchmarking with comparable companies and organisations and review of good industry practice," the oil giant said.

The new policy comes in the wake of ex-Chief Executive Bernard Looney's sudden exit from BP last September over his failure to disclose his own personal relationships with colleagues.

The FTSE-100 company's new policy also "prohibits employees from directly or indirectly managing relatives or those with whom they're in an intimate relationship," according to the memo seen by Reuters.

BP's top 4,500 senior managers, out of a workforce of 90,000, will also be given three months until Sept. 1 to declare any intimate relationships they previously had with employees or agency workers over the past three years.

Staff at the British oil company face disciplinary action including dismissal if they fail to comply with the oil company's new conflicts-of-interest policy.

Shares in BP (UK:BP), listed on the London Stock Exchange, were up 1% on Wednesday, having gained 2% over the previous 12 months.

After first taking the helm in 2020, ex-CEO Looney laid out ambitious plans to transform BP into a net-zero energy company by 2050 by investing in green-energy projects.

The Irish CEO was succeeded by Canadian Murray Auchincloss, who was appointed BP's CEO in January having previously acted as interim CEO following Looney's exit in late 2023.

-Louis Goss

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06-12-24 0550ET

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