The board of BP announced Monday that it has appointed Brendan Nelson and Frank “Skip” Bowman as non-executive directors of BP with immediate effect. Nelson will succeed Douglas Flint as chairman of BP’s Audit Committee when Flint retires from the Board at the conclusion of the 2011 BP Annual General Meeting.
Carl-Henric Svanberg, chairman of BP, said: “I am delighted to announce these two important appointments. The Board has a clear task in ensuring that the company can deliver long term value for its shareholders. To do this we have to have the confidence of the countries and communities in which we work. The tragic events of 20th April and their aftermath demonstrate the challenge ahead and the skills which Skip and Brendan bring will aid us in this task.
“Skip, as a former head of the US Nuclear Navy, has had a career where safety was central to all that he did and was also a member of the Baker Panel that reviewed safety at BP’s US refineries. We will clearly benefit from his long safety experience and from his knowledge of BP. Brendan brings vast financial and auditing experience to the Board and to the Audit Committee where he will replace Douglas Flint.
“Together these appointments are the next step in continuing to strengthen the Board to meet the challenges which BP faces.”
Oil spill inquiry
In separate news, an inquiry by the Obama administration into the BP oil spill has given support to many of the company’s own findings, challenging claims that BP had sacrificed safety to cut costs.
The panel’s chief investigator, Fred Bartlit said that he agreed with “90%” of BP findings from its own investigation into the Gulf of Mexico disaster.
“We see no instance where a decision-making person or group of people sat there aware of safety risks, aware of costs, and opted to give up safety for costs,” Bartlit said in his presentation on the first day of the two-day inquiry which began on Monday.
He added: “We do not say everything done was perfectly safe. We’re saying that people have said people traded safety for dollars. We studied the hell out of this. We welcome anybody who gives us something we missed.”
