By George Glover
BP shares were down again Thursday after ousted chairman Albert Manifold kept the fallout around his departure alive by issuing a 769-word rebuttal explaining he made his own coffee .
The oil chief, who was removed by BP on Tuesday for what it described as governance and conduct issues, also said he turned down a corner office to push the oil major to cut costs.
"I sought to accelerate cost reduction, simplify the portfolio and strengthen the balance sheet," Manifold said in a statement shared with Barron's. "Where I saw unnecessary or excessive expenditure, I called it out."
Manifold added that he had turned down a chauffeur-driven limousine, private jets, and corporate sports tickets.
"I made my own coffee, bought my lunch in the local cafe," he said. "I sat in a small office, eschewing the grand corner-office privilege of previous Chairmen."
Manifold said it was possible that he "pushed hard and challenged people directly," but added that "there is a considerable distance between driving an organization with urgency and the characterization of my conduct that is now being put about."
BP said in an emailed statement to Barron's: "We note the comments of our former chair. We stand by the statement we have made. We have a duty of care to all our employees, particularly those impacted by his behavior."
The company appointed Manifold in October 2025 to impose discipline after years of strategic drift.
The messy breakup has dragged down the oil major's shares as investors fret about a potential governance problem. BP's American depositary receipts fell 1% in Thursday's premarket, having dropped 6% over the previous two sessions.
Write to George Glover at george.glover@dowjones.com
This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 28, 2026 05:25 ET (09:25 GMT)
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