BP Bosses Give Donations to Mental Health Charities

BP plc Chief Executive Officer Bernard Looney has revealed that he and BP Chairman Helge Lund have decided to give 20 percent of their salaries for the rest of the year to mental health charities.

“It seems as though everyone, in one way or another, is stepping up to help the world in its hour of need,” Looney said in a statement posted on LinkedIn.

“Within BP, like so many companies, colleagues are selflessly giving their time, money or skills to fight the virus. Having seen this, and wanting to do our part, BP chairman Helge Lund and I have each decided to give 20 percent of our salaries for the rest of this year to mental health charities,” he added.

“Why mental health? It is something that affects us all. Everyone is dealing with something in life. And with the virus – it is amplified. Not everyone will be infected but everyone is affected. Stress, fear, anxiety, isolation. This is a mental health crisis as well,” Looney continued.

BP revealed last month that Looney’s 2020 salary is set at $1.6 million (GBP 1.3 million). The fee structure for the chairman, which has been in place since May 2013, is $984,268 (GBP 785,000) per year, according to BP.

Looney, who was appointed BP CEO in February this year, previously ran BP’s upstream business from April 2016 and has been a member of the company’s executive management team since November 2010. He first joined BP in 1991 as a drilling engineer.

Lund became chairman of the BP board in January 2019. He previously served as chief executive of BG Group from 2015 to 2016, when the company merged with Shell. He joined BG Group from Equinor, where he served as its president and chief executive officer for 10 years from 2004.

To contact the author, email andreas.exarheas@rigzone.com