More than £2bn will be lost from BP’s share price as investors are angered by the resignation of disgraced boss Bernard Looney over his failure to disclose past relationships with colleagues

BP’s share price lost more than £2bn as investors were shocked by the surprise departure of disgraced former boss Bernard Looney.

Mr Looney left the oil giant on Tuesday after admitting he misled the board about past relationships with colleagues.

He resigned after saying he had not been “fully transparent” during a 2022 investigation into allegations about his personal life. In the same year he received a total of £10 million, including £8.4 million in bonuses and share awards.

After his resignation, BP’s market valuation fell from £90.8 billion to £88.2 billion, pushing down London’s FTSE 100. Britain’s largest pension funds, which have invested around £500 million in BP, also took a hit yesterday, The Sun reported.

This comes as BP is under pressure to claw back millions of dollars in bonuses paid to Mr Looney. He has received £16.2m from BP since taking office in February 2020, including £13m in bonuses and share awards.

BP’s share price lost more than £2bn as investors were shocked by the surprise departure of disgraced former boss Bernard Looney. Mr Looney left the oil giant on Tuesday after admitting he misled the board about past relationships with colleagues

After his resignation, BP’s market valuation fell from £90.8 billion to £88.2 billion, pushing down London’s FTSE 100. Britain’s largest pension funds, which have invested around £500 million in BP, also took a hit yesterday

According to BP’s remuneration policy, bonuses can be clawed back in a number of circumstances, including “material misconduct or other exceptional circumstances”.

Sir Vince Cable, the former business minister who introduced the clawback rules during the coalition, said it was up to BP to claw back Mr Looney’s bonus.

Sir Vince, who previously worked as chief economist at BP rival Shell, said: “One of the things I and my colleagues did was to give shareholders more power to deal with the pay of their senior executives who abused it .”

“It is absolutely the responsibility of the CEO and the board to address any abuses.”

Luke Hildyard, director of the High Pay Centre, a campaign group, said the 2022 bonus must be paid back to BP. “Otherwise the clawback provisions designed to include companies in stimulus payments would be ridiculed,” he said.

“This incident has caused quite a bit of upheaval for the company and has certainly overridden the regulatory obligations that were met in order to receive the bonus.”

Roger Barker of the Institute of Directors, which represents business leaders across the economy, said: “It is important for the reputation of the entire business community that top managers are not seen as profiting from significant misconduct.”

The departure of the 53-year-old Mr. Looney sent the city into turmoil. Chief Financial Officer Murray Auchincloss has temporarily replaced him while Chairman Helge Lund leads the search for a successor.

Bernard Looney resigned after saying he had not been “fully transparent” during a 2022 investigation into allegations about his private life

Outside of work, he was married to life coach and GQ Magazine columnist Jacqueline Hurst, who Masterchef’s Gregg Wallace credited with helping him ease his anxiety ahead of his appearance on Strictly Come Dancing last year

The board’s decision to hire Mr. Looney in the first place could now come under scrutiny. Mr Lund said at the time that the new chief executive had “all the right qualities to lead us through this era of change” and was an “authentic, progressive leader with a passion for purpose and people”.

The reasons for Mr Looney’s resignation date back to May last year, when BP was made aware of allegations about his past relationships by an anonymous source. After the company launched a review, Mr Looney “disclosed a small number of historical relationships with colleagues prior to his appointment as CEO” but was found not to have breached BP’s code of conduct.

The board “obtained assurances from Mr. Looney regarding the disclosure of past personal relationships and his future conduct.”

But after further allegations of a “similar nature” were made recently, the company said it had opened a new investigation – which is still ongoing.

On Tuesday, Mr. Looney “informed the company that he now accepts that he was not fully transparent in his previous disclosures,” BP said, adding that he “did not provide details of all relationships.”

BP said no decisions had been made “regarding any compensation payments” to him. Mr. Looney will no longer receive a salary as he has resigned with immediate effect.