MADRID, 13 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The CEO of the British oil company BP, Bernard Looney, has submitted his resignation with immediate effect after admitting that he was not completely honest about the personal relationships he had in the past with colleagues at the company.

As reported by the company in a statement, BP's current CFO, Murray Auchincloss, will serve as CEO on an interim basis.

In May last year, with the support of external legal counsel, the British oil company's Board received and reviewed allegations relating to Looney's conduct regarding personal relationships with company colleagues after receiving information from an anonymous source.

During this process, Looney revealed a "small number of past relationships" with company colleagues before becoming CEO, and no violation of the company's Code of Conduct was detected.

Recently, the company received other accusations of a similar nature, which it immediately began to investigate, also with the support of external legal counsel, without the process having yet been concluded.

However, Looney admitted this Tuesday that he was not "totally transparent" in his previous statements by not having provided complete information about his past relationships with colleagues at the company.

"The company has strong values ​​and the Board expects all its employees to behave in accordance with them. In particular, all managers are expected to act as role models and exercise good judgment in a way that earns the trust of others" BP highlights in its statement.

The oil company has specified that it has not yet made any decision regarding Looney's remuneration.

Looney, 53, took over as CEO of the British oil company in early 2020, following the retirement of Bob Dudley.