Terry Macalister
Monday October 1, 2007
The BP board has given Sir Peter Sutherland the green light to stay on as chairman until 2009 despite the wave of problems that have led to a management shake-up of the oil group and seriously undermined the performance of its share price.
A top headhunter has been appointed to search for a replacement for Sir Peter. But the company said last night there was no question of him stepping down early, despite some commentators arguing that an early exit would clear the air at BP.
“The board has requested – and Sir Peter Sutherland has agreed – that he will stay as chairman until the annual general meeting in 2009,” said a spokesman for the group, which until recently was Britain’s largest company by market capitalisation.
Shareholders have the ultimate say in the decision as all non-executives have their tenure voted on annually.
Sources close to the group said the new chief executive, Tony Hayward, had a good relationship with Sir Peter and was keen to see him stay to overhaul the group.
Sir Peter fell out with Mr Hayward’s predecessor, John Browne, after the two argued over the former chief executive’s desire to stay on after BP’s traditional retirement age. Lord Browne ended up departing in May after he was found guilty of telling a lie to the high court in an unsuccessful attempt to protect his private life.
Sir Peter has been chairman at BP since 1997 and presided over a huge recovery in the company’s fortunes when Lord Browne embarked on a series of audacious and successful acquisitions of Amoco, Arco and then Burmah Castrol.
But the former EU commissioner has also had to defend BP against a blizzard of criticism over the last two years as the oil group became embroiled in a string of high-profile incidents in the US including the Texas City explosion, Alaska pipeline ruptures and US propane trading, which damaged its reputation.
Anna Mann, a respected headhunter, has been brought in to begin a global sweep of top executives to find a long-term replacement for Sir Peter. His deputy, Sir Ian Prosser, has also been asked to look at internal candidates such as Sir William Castell, a recent BP board appointee who made a name for himself transforming the diagnostics firm Amersham.
http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2180670,00.html
This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
