The original Sun King, Louis XIV, ruled over France for 72 years and 110 days, and his two long-lived successors led France to stagnation, bankruptcy and revolution.
John Browne, nicknamed the Sun King, led BP for 12 years, but his latest successor, Bernard Looney, has just been forced to resign. Big Oil company chiefs rarely pay the price for business failures – but will they now, as energy transition contradictions become insurmountable?
BP’s recent leadership history is volatile.
The late Sir Robert Horton, who took on the role of BP's chief executive in 1990, said in 1992: “Because I am blessed by my good brain, I tend to get the answer rather quicker and more often than most people."
However, investing even as the oil price fell was the wrong answer, and the loss-making company forced him out in June 1992.
After Sir David Simon’s successful restructuring of BP, Mr Browne, now Lord Browne of Madingley, took over in 1995. He masterminded BP's mega-mergers, including the acquisition of Amoco in 1998 and Arco in 1999, and kicked off the creation of the “supermajor” in the late 1990s – followed by Exxon buying Mobil, Chevron acquiring Texaco, Total taking over Fina and Elf, and Conoco swallowing Phillips.
He also led the charge into the former Soviet Union, picking up what became core BP assets in Azerbaijan and Russia.
He correctly perceived the need for scale to reduce costs, after a decade and a half of low oil prices. He also tried to steer the company into new energies, with investments in solar power and the rebranding as Beyond Petroleum, but he was ahead of his time – and what the market and shareholders wanted.
Personal problems, rather than business failings, forced him to resign in May 2007.
His hand-picked successor, Tony Hayward, became the fall guy in October 2010 for the disastrous Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and its poor PR handling. Many felt he was unlucky to have inherited a culture of excessive cost cutting and inattention to safety.
Replacement Bob Dudley brought recovery until the rare luxury of retirement on his own terms in February 2020.
This brings us to Mr Looney. An Irish citizen, he joined the company at the age of 21 in 1991. On business grounds, his performance had been reasonable; since the coronavirus pandemic, BP shares have matched Shell, and beaten Chevron and TotalEnergies.
Yet, last Wednesday, he resigned, after misleading BP’s board over the lack of disclosure of relationships with colleagues.
Other oil companies have had a less colourful ride. But in 2004, Shell group chairman Phil Watts and his lieutenant, Walter van der Vijver, were ousted after concealing that they had overstated the company’s oil and gas reserves.
Olav Fjell, chief executive of Norway’s state giant Statoil (now Equinor) had to resign in 2003 amid a bribery scandal to win business in Iran.
Christophe de Margerie, Total’s charismatic head, died in a Moscow plane accident in 2014. This was reminiscent of the death of the founder of Italy’s Eni, Enrico Mattei, in a crash en route to Milan in 1962.
American oil bosses have been luckier, although in 1996 Texaco ousted several top executives caught on tape speaking about African-Americans in grossly racist terms, following a long-running lawsuit over a failure to promote black employees.
All this history reveals three notable features about the oil industry.
First is that these leaders were nearly all company lifers – spending at most a few years elsewhere. The industry promotes from within.
Second is the lack of diversity of gender and national and ethnic background – virtually all white men from the US or northern Europe, a pattern even more pronounced for the US companies.
Wael Sawan, the new Shell chief executive, is a welcome change, a Lebanese Canadian who grew up in Dubai – although still a lifetime company man.
Third is that, since Mr Horton, none of these bosses were sacked over failures in the normal run of business. That is remarkable, coming after a long period in which the industry’s returns to investors were very poor.
Strategy has reversed dizzyingly. Oil bosses followed the herd even as it stampeded towards obvious cliffs.
The major oil companies were slow to get into shale, then paid heavily at the top of the market, then struggled to operate cost-effectively and most of them sold out again.
Under Rex Tillerson, later the US secretary of state for former president Donald Trump, ExxonMobil paid $41 billion for shale gas producer XTO just as prices crashed.
No one since BP's Mr Browne has created a convincing vision for an international oil company in a future of climate change. His contemporary, ExxonMobil’s Lee Raymond, built a formidable machine, but was renowned for his dismissal of climate science, saying: “First, the world isn’t warming. Second, even if it were, oil and gas wouldn’t be the cause. Third, no one can predict the likely future temperature rise.”
No oil leader can take such a position today, but none has resolved the contradiction either.
Mr Looney pledged the industry’s most aggressive falls in hydrocarbon output, then partly reversed them, while Mr Sawan has cooled Shell’s energy transition plans and demanded higher returns from new energy businesses.
ExxonMobil and Chevron apparently are content to bolt on some carbon capture and hydrogen activities to their oily core.
Only one oil chief has proposed something different – Vicki Hollub of Occidental, almost unique as a woman at the top of the petroleum industry, who sees the company’s future as a carbon management business. She had to survive the “dumbest deal in history”, buying Anadarko in 2019, just before the pandemic, and was lucky to attract support from investor Warren Buffett, who was willing to back her for the long term.
If the international oil business is to find a long-term sustainable and profitable business model, it needs to be wiser, bolder and more open-minded in how and where it finds its leaders.
Maybe not a Robespierre, but it will take a Napoleon or a Josephine to reign over future energy.
Robin M. Mills is chief executive of Qamar Energy and author of The Myth of the Oil Crisis
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
How will Gen Alpha invest?
Mark Chahwan, co-founder and chief executive of robo-advisory firm Sarwa, forecasts that Generation Alpha (born between 2010 and 2024) will start investing in their teenage years and therefore benefit from compound interest.
“Technology and education should be the main drivers to make this happen, whether it’s investing in a few clicks or their schools/parents stepping up their personal finance education skills,” he adds.
Mr Chahwan says younger generations have a higher capacity to take on risk, but for some their appetite can be more cautious because they are investing for the first time. “Schools still do not teach personal finance and stock market investing, so a lot of the learning journey can feel daunting and intimidating,” he says.
He advises millennials to not always start with an aggressive portfolio even if they can afford to take risks. “We always advise to work your way up to your risk capacity, that way you experience volatility and get used to it. Given the higher risk capacity for the younger generations, stocks are a favourite,” says Mr Chahwan.
Highlighting the role technology has played in encouraging millennials and Gen Z to invest, he says: “They were often excluded, but with lower account minimums ... a customer with $1,000 [Dh3,672] in their account has their money working for them just as hard as the portfolio of a high get-worth individual.”
The bio
Who inspires you?
I am in awe of the remarkable women in the Arab region, both big and small, pushing boundaries and becoming role models for generations. Emily Nasrallah was a writer, journalist, teacher and women’s rights activist
How do you relax?
Yoga relaxes me and helps me relieve tension, especially now when we’re practically chained to laptops and desks. I enjoy learning more about music and the history of famous music bands and genres.
What is favourite book?
The Perks of Being a Wallflower - I think I've read it more than 7 times
What is your favourite Arabic film?
Hala2 Lawen (Translation: Where Do We Go Now?) by Nadine Labaki
What is favourite English film?
Mamma Mia
Best piece of advice to someone looking for a career at Google?
If you’re interested in a career at Google, deep dive into the different career paths and pinpoint the space you want to join. When you know your space, you’re likely to identify the skills you need to develop.
DUBAI WORLD CUP RACE CARD
6.30pm Meydan Classic Trial US$100,000 (Turf) 1,400m
7.05pm Handicap $135,000 (T) 1,400m
7.40pm UAE 2000 Guineas Group Three $250,000 (Dirt) 1,600m
8.15pm Dubai Sprint Listed Handicap $175,000 (T) 1,200m
8.50pm Al Maktoum Challenge Round-2 Group Two $450,000 (D) 1,900m
9.25pm Handicap $135,000 (T) 1,800m
10pm Handicap $135,000 (T) 1,400m
The National selections
6.30pm Well Of Wisdom
7.05pm Summrghand
7.40pm Laser Show
8.15pm Angel Alexander
8.50pm Benbatl
9.25pm Art Du Val
10pm: Beyond Reason
THE BIG THREE
NOVAK DJOKOVIC
19 grand slam singles titles
Wimbledon: 5 (2011, 14, 15, 18, 19)
French Open: 2 (2016, 21)
US Open: 3 (2011, 15, 18)
Australian Open: 9 (2008, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 19, 20, 21)
Prize money: $150m
ROGER FEDERER
20 grand slam singles titles
Wimbledon: 8 (2003, 04, 05, 06, 07, 09, 12, 17)
French Open: 1 (2009)
US Open: 5 (2004, 05, 06, 07, 08)
Australian Open: 6 (2004, 06, 07, 10, 17, 18)
Prize money: $130m
RAFAEL NADAL
20 grand slam singles titles
Wimbledon: 2 (2008, 10)
French Open: 13 (2005, 06, 07, 08, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20)
US Open: 4 (2010, 13, 17, 19)
Australian Open: 1 (2009)
Prize money: $125m
The specs: 2018 Mazda CX-5
Price, base / as tested: Dh89,000 / Dh130,000
Engine: 2.5-litre four-cylinder
Power: 188hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque: 251Nm @ 4,000rpm
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 7.1L / 100km
The Saudi Cup race card
1 The Jockey Club Local Handicap (TB) 1,800m (Dirt) $500,000
2 The Riyadh Dirt Sprint (TB) 1,200m (D) $1.500,000
3 The 1351 Turf Sprint 1,351m (Turf) $1,000,000
4 The Saudi Derby (TB) 1600m (D) $800,000
5 The Neom Turf Cup (TB) 2,100m (T) $1,000,000
6 The Obaiya Arabian Classic (PB) 2,000m (D) $1,900,000
7 The Red Sea Turf Handicap (TB) 3,000m (T) $2,500,000
8 The Saudi Cup (TB) 1,800m (D) $20,000,000
Recycle Reuse Repurpose
New central waste facility on site at expo Dubai South area to handle estimated 173 tonne of waste generated daily by millions of visitors
Recyclables such as plastic, paper, glass will be collected from bins on the expo site and taken to the new expo Central Waste Facility on site
Organic waste will be processed at the new onsite Central Waste Facility, treated and converted into compost to be re-used to green the expo area
Of 173 tonnes of waste daily, an estimated 39 per cent will be recyclables, 48 per cent organic waste and 13 per cent general waste.
About 147 tonnes will be recycled and converted to new products at another existing facility in Ras Al Khor
Recycling at Ras Al Khor unit:
Plastic items to be converted to plastic bags and recycled
Paper pulp moulded products such as cup carriers, egg trays, seed pots, and food packaging trays
Glass waste into bowls, lights, candle holders, serving trays and coasters
Aim is for 85 per cent of waste from the site to be diverted from landfill
Match info
Uefa Champions League Group F
Manchester City v Hoffenheim, midnight (Wednesday, UAE)
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%3Cul%3E%0A%3Cli%3EHigh%20fever%3C%2Fli%3E%0A%3Cli%3EIntense%20pain%20behind%20your%20eyes%3C%2Fli%3E%0A%3Cli%3ESevere%20headache%3C%2Fli%3E%0A%3Cli%3EMuscle%20and%20joint%20pains%3C%2Fli%3E%0A%3Cli%3ENausea%3C%2Fli%3E%0A%3Cli%3EVomiting%3C%2Fli%3E%0A%3Cli%3ESwollen%20glands%3C%2Fli%3E%0A%3Cli%3ERash%3C%2Fli%3E%0A%3C%2Ful%3E%0A%3Cp%3EIf%20symptoms%20occur%2C%20they%20usually%20last%20for%20two-seven%20days%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
More from Armen Sarkissian
if you go
The flights
Etihad flies direct from Abu Dhabi to San Francisco from Dh5,760 return including taxes.
The car
Etihad Guest members get a 10 per cent worldwide discount when booking with Hertz, as well as earning miles on their rentals (more at www.hertz.com/etihad). A week's car hire costs from Dh1,500 including taxes.
The hotels
Along the route, Motel 6 (www.motel6.com) offers good value and comfort, with rooms from $55 (Dh202) per night including taxes. In Portland, the Jupiter Hotel (https://jupiterhotel.com/) has rooms from $165 (Dh606) per night including taxes. The Society Hotel https://thesocietyhotel.com/ has rooms from $130 (Dh478) per night including taxes.
More info
To keep up with constant developments in Portland, visit www.travelportland.com
Greatest of All Time
Starring: Vijay, Sneha, Prashanth, Prabhu Deva, Mohan
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League final:
Who: Real Madrid v Liverpool
Where: NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium, Kiev, Ukraine
When: Saturday, May 26, 10.45pm (UAE)
TV: Match on BeIN Sports
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
Blackpink World Tour [Born Pink] In Cinemas
Starring: Rose, Jisoo, Jennie, Lisa
Directors: Min Geun, Oh Yoon-Dong
Rating: 3/5
%20Ramez%20Gab%20Min%20El%20Akher
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECreator%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Ramez%20Galal%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Ramez%20Galal%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStreaming%20on%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EMBC%20Shahid%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2.5%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
THE SPECS
Engine: AMG-enhanced 3.0L inline-6 turbo with EQ Boost and electric auxiliary compressor
Transmission: nine-speed automatic
Power: 429hp
Torque: 520Nm
Price: Dh360,200 (starting)
