MOSCOW (MRC) -- The board of BP p.l.c. has recently announced that Brian Gilvary, BP chief financial officer (CFO), has decided to retire from the company and step down from the BP board on 30 June 2020, as per the company's press release.
Gilvary has had a 34-year career with BP, including over eight years as CFO.
He will be succeeded by Murray Auchincloss, currently CFO of BP’s Upstream segment, who will take up the role of BP CFO and join the board on 1 July 2020. Gilvary and Auchincloss will work together between now and the end of June to ensure an orderly transition.
BP chairman Helge Lund said: "We will miss Brian’s financial stewardship and strategic insights. He is one of the architects of today’s BP, key to its transformation into a safer, simpler and stronger company. After a thorough selection process, the board is pleased to have chosen Murray as BP’s next CFO. With his international financial and commercial experience and a deep understanding of the whole group, he will play an important role as BP continues to develop in a fast-changing energy market. On behalf of the board, I would like to thank Brian for all he has done for BP and look forward to welcoming Murray to the board."
Bob Dudley, BP group chief executive said: "I have worked closely with Brian for more than two decades and have always valued his financial expertise, strategic guidance and his unwavering dedication to the company. It is difficult to overstate the contribution he has made to BP: few CFOs have faced challenges of the scale that he has, and far fewer have managed them as successfully. As now we both approach retirement, I will miss working with him."
Bernard Looney, currently chief executive Upstream and BP group chief executive from 5 February 2020, said: "All of us at BP will greatly miss Brian’s clarity of thought, his candour and his commitment to the company. I appreciate that he has agreed to stay in post until mid-year to ensure a successful handover to Murray. I have worked side-by-side with Murray for many years and have the utmost confidence in his ability to step into this critical role."
Gilvary joined BP in 1986 with a PhD in mathematics from the University of Manchester. After a variety of commercial and financial roles internationally in BP’s upstream, downstream and trading businesses, he became chief executive of BP ‘s integrated supply and trading function in 2005 and in 2010 deputy CFO and head of finance. He became BP CFO and joined the board in January 2012.
During his time as CFO he has managed some of the most complex issues to face BP: leading the rebuilding and strengthening of the group’s finances and the resolution of complex litigation after the Gulf of Mexico oil spill; managing the impacts of the oil price crash of 2014/15; and playing an integral role in evolving BP’s position in Russia.
As MRC reported before, in September 2019, six world's major petrochemical companies in Flanders, Belgium, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, and the Netherlands (Trilateral Region) announced the creation of a consortium to jointly investigate how naphtha or gas steam crackers could be operated using renewable electricity instead of fossil fuels. The Cracker of the Future consortium, which includes BASF, Borealis, BP, LyondellBasell, SABIC and Total, aims to produce base chemicals while also significantly reducing carbon emissions. The companies agreed to invest in R&D and knowledge sharing as they assess the possibility of transitioning their base chemical production to renewable electricity.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,093,260 tonnes in 2019, up by 6% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. PE shipments rose from both domestic producers and foreign suppliers. The estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 1,260,400 tonnes in January-December 2019, up by 4% year on year. Supply of almost all grades of propylene polymers increased, except for statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers).
BP is one of the world's leading international oil and gas companies, providing its customers with fuel for transportation, energy for heat and light, retail services and petrochemicals products for everyday items.
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