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In an interview with the Financial Times, Auchincloss said Manifold, the former head of Irish building materials company CRH who is due to start as BP’s chair in September, is “hardcore focused on returns, value and efficiency”.
BP, which is planning to sell $20bn of assets by 2027, has had a recent run of oil and gas discoveries, including its biggest find in 25 years in Brazil.
“The reason we need to think about our portfolio is all of these successes [ . . . ] so we need to think about resource allocation,” said Auchincloss.
The announcement was made alongside second-quarter results. BP reported adjusted profits of $2.4bn for the period, a third higher than analysts expected, and raised its quarterly dividend by 4 per cent. The company maintained a $750mn quarterly share buyback.
BP’s shares rose 2 per cent in early trading and are now up 24 per cent from their 2025 low in April, compared with a 15 per cent rise for rival Shell.
Auchincloss said the company had a strong quarter “operationally and strategically” despite a 10 per cent fall in the oil price from the first three months of the year.
He picked out the performance of BP’s exploration team as a highlight. “It is fantastic to have 10 commercial discoveries, significant ones in Namibia and in Brazil. This is really material,” he said, pointing to the group’s increased use of technology to improve seismic imaging and BP’s data analysis.
“We are bringing in Nvidia to help us moving forward so we can reduce cycle time to get ahead of the competition,” he added.
The fresh review of BP’s business comes just months after Auchincloss pledged to cut between $4bn and $5bn of costs, from a 2023 baseline, by the end of 2027.
The company also pivoted away in February from its clean energy businesses, pledging to invest $10bn a year into its oil and gas production, and increase production by 20 per cent.
What Auchincloss described at the time as a “fundamental reset” of BP’s strategy failed to stem the decline in its share price. Activist investor Elliott Management, which has built a 5 per cent stake, has called for more radical action, including a further $5bn of cost cuts on top of BP’s plan.
On Tuesday the UK oil major gave the first update on its progress since February, saying it had cut $1.7bn of costs so far and sold $3bn of assets.
Auchincloss said BP wanted to be the “best in the sector” on costs by 2027, and now sees opportunities to “keep driving efficiency” through digitalisation.
“BP can and will do better for its investors,” Auchincloss sai
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