LONDON: The head of exploration at BP, Richard Herbert, is leaving the British oil major after slightly more than two years in the job, a period in which the company slashed spending on the search for new deposits.
Herbert, a BP veteran and a long-time ally of chief executive Bob Dudley, rejoined BP in October 2013 after several years at rival Talisman Energy. His task was to lead exploration activity to help the firm rebuild investor confidence following a deadly US Gulf oil spill in 2010.
But as oil prices began to crash from mid-2014 and BP had to shed assets to pay off some $50 billion in US liabilities for the Macondo spill, the firm had to reduce funding for costly exploration projects.
“Herbert simply didn’t get a chance to drill a lot of wells ... given where BP stood post-Macondo and where the oil price went,” a source close to the company said.
Herbert, a BP veteran and a long-time ally of chief executive Bob Dudley, rejoined BP in October 2013 after several years at rival Talisman Energy. His task was to lead exploration activity to help the firm rebuild investor confidence following a deadly US Gulf oil spill in 2010.
But as oil prices began to crash from mid-2014 and BP had to shed assets to pay off some $50 billion in US liabilities for the Macondo spill, the firm had to reduce funding for costly exploration projects.
“Herbert simply didn’t get a chance to drill a lot of wells ... given where BP stood post-Macondo and where the oil price went,” a source close to the company said.
