BP shakes up Upstream leadership

Oil titan BP has appointed long-running company employee Lamar McKay as the new head of its Upstream division, which is thought to ease the pressure on current frontman Bob Dudley.

Dudley, who is the Chief Executive Officer of BP, said: "During the past two years, we have successfully introduced a more centralised organisation to our Upstream; BP's largest organisational change for two decades. I believe it is now timely and appropriate to appoint a fully dedicated chief executive to this, our largest business."

The move is said to be an effort to free Dudley up from closely managing day-to-day operations so he can focus on the fall-out from the Gulf of Mexico Macondo well blowout in 2010, labelled as the world's largest-ever offshore oil spill.

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The company has named McKay as the CEO of Upstream, where he will oversee the Exploration, Developments and Production units together with the Upstream strategy and integration team.

These divisions were formed in late 2010 as the company underwent a "major reorganisation" in an effort to improve risk management and the implementation of global standard. These divisions had previously reported directly to Dudley.

McKay is currently the Chairman and President of BP America and has worked for the company in a variety of roles for some 32 years. He will start in his new role on January 1st.

Dudley said: "Lamar is an outstanding leader, with a proven record of strong operational effectiveness and strategic success. His leadership of BP America over the past three years has been exemplary, during a most difficult period for our company. His long and deep experience in the upstream, and of the US and Russia, will be invaluable as we deliver our Upstream strategy worldwide."