CEO Succession Plan

BP PLC
12 January 2007


January 12, 2007

                    BP ANNOUNCES LORD BROWNE SUCCESSION PLAN

BP announced today that after more than a decade in the CEO role Lord Browne has
decided to retire as chief executive at the end of June 2007.

The board is pleased to announce that Tony Hayward, currently BP's head of
exploration and production, will succeed Lord Browne following his retirement as
group chief executive.

Peter Sutherland, BP's chairman, said: 'John Browne is the greatest British
businessman of his generation and has transformed BP into one of the biggest
energy groups in the world. His performance over the past 12 years has been
extraordinary, which is no doubt why he has constantly been named by his fellow
CEOs as the most impressive businessman in Britain. His vision, intellect,
leadership and skill have been a wonder to behold and he will be a difficult act
to follow.

'Last summer, John and I had agreed that he would stay as CEO until the end of
2008. John decided that it would be in the company's interest to name a
successor now in order to provide an orderly transition. Having made that
decision, which the board fully supports, we came to the conclusion that a six
month handover would be more appropriate than 18 months.

'It is a testament to John's managerial skill that BP is blessed with having
such an impressive managerial top bench to choose from and John and I are
delighted to be able to announce that Tony Hayward will be succeeding him from
July 1, 2007. Tony has an excellent track record and extensive knowledge of the
sector and will be able to draw on John's wealth of knowledge over the next six
months.'

During Lord Browne's tenure as the chief executive of BP he has presided over a
fivefold increase in the company's market capitalisation to £104.6 billion and
profits to $22.3 billion; while the share price has gone up around 250 per cent
to 532 pence and earnings per share have gone up over 600 per cent.

Lord Browne said: 'It has been a privilege to have had the opportunity to turn
BP into an international company at the forefront of the energy industry. We
clearly have important issues still to deal with which I am determined to
address. I am pleased that Peter and I have been able to work together to
develop a successor in Tony in whom I have every confidence.'

Note to Editors: Biographies of Lord Browne and Tony Hayward are attached.

Dr A.B. HAYWARD

Tony Hayward was appointed to the main board of BP in 2003, becoming chief
executive officer of BP's exploration and production segment responsible for the
group's assets and operational activities relating to the discovery and
production of hydrocarbons.

He joined BP in 1982 and, following a series of technical and commercial roles
in BP Exploration in London, Aberdeen, France, China and Glasgow, in 1992 he
moved to Colombia as exploration manager.  In 1995 he became president of the BP
group in Venezuela.

In 1997 Dr Hayward returned to London as a director of BP Exploration and
following the merger of BP and Amoco, in 1999 he became a group vice president
and a member of the upstream executive committee.  He was appointed group
treasurer in 2000 where his responsibilities included global treasury
operations, corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions.  He was appointed an
executive vice president in 2002 becoming chief operating officer for
exploration and production later that year.

He is a non-executive and senior independent director of Corus Group, was
appointed Companion of the Chartered Management Institute in September 2005 and
was a member of Citibank's Advisory Board between 2000 and 2003.

Dr Hayward was born in 1957.  He is married with two children.  He is a keen
sportsman and enjoys sailing, triathlons and watching football, rugby and
cricket.

The LORD BROWNE of Madingley

Lord Browne is Group Chief Executive of BP p.l.c.

Born in 1948, he joined BP in 1966 as a university apprentice. He holds a degree
in Physics from Cambridge University and an MS in Business from Stanford
University, California. He has also been awarded Honorary Doctorates from Heriot
Watt University (D.Eng) and Robert Gordon University (D.Tech), Dundee University
(LLD), Warwick University (D.Sc), Hull University (D.Sc), Cranfield University
(D.Sc), Sheffield Hallam University (Hon. Duniv), University of Buckingham
(D.Sc), Leuven University, Belgium (D.Sc), Thunderbird (LLD), University of
Notre Dame (LLD), Colorado School of Mines (D.Eng), D Mendeleyev University of
Chemical Technology of Russia, Arizona State University (DHLitt). He is an
Honorary Fellow of St John's College, Cambridge and a Senior Member of St
Antony's College, Oxford. He is a Fellow and President of the Royal Academy of
Engineering, a Fellow of the Royal Society, a Fellow of the Institute of Mining
and Metallurgy, a Fellow of the Institute of Physics, a Fellow of the Institute
of Petroleum, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, a Companion
of the Institute of Management, an Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Chemical
Engineers, an Honorary Fellow of the Geological Society, an Honorary Fellow of
the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal
Society of Chemistry.

Between 1969 and 1983, he held a variety of exploration and production posts in
Anchorage, New York, San Francisco, London and Canada.

In 1984 he became Group Treasurer and Chief Executive of BP Finance
International.

In April 1986, he took up the position of Executive Vice President and Chief
Financial Officer of The Standard Oil Company in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1987,
following the BP/Standard merger, in addition to his position as Executive Vice
President and Chief Financial Officer of BP America, he was appointed Chief
Executive Officer of Standard Oil Production Company.

In 1989, he became Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of BP
Exploration based in London. In September 1991, he joined the Board of The
British Petroleum Company p.l.c. as a Managing Director. He was appointed Group
Chief Executive on June 10, 1995. Following the merger of BP and Amoco, he
became Group Chief Executive of BP Amoco on December 31, 1998.

He is a non-executive director of Goldman Sachs. He was a director of Intel
Corporation from 1997 - 2006, a Trustee of The British Museum from 1995-2005, a
member of the Supervisory Board of DaimlerChrysler AG from 1998 - 2001 and a
non-executive director of SmithKline Beecham from 1996-1999.

He is Chairman of the International Advisory Board of the School of Economics
and Management, Tsinghua University, Chairman of the Cambridge Judge Business
School and Emeritus Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Stanford Graduate
School of Business. He is a Trustee of the Cambridge University Foundation, and
a member of the Guild of Cambridge Benefactors. He is a member (and former
Chairman) of the British American Business Inc. He is a member of the board of
Catalyst; he is an honorary Trustee of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, an
honorary counsellor of the Conference Board, Inc., a Fellow of the American
Academy of Arts and Sciences, a Senior Fellow of the Foreign Policy Association,
a Trustee of the Eisenhower Fellowship and a Vice President of the Prince of
Wales Business Leaders Forum.

In 1999, the Royal Academy of Engineering awarded him the Prince Philip Medal
for his outstanding contribution to the field of Engineering. The Stanford
Business School Alumni Association presented him with the Ernest C Arbuckle
Award in 2001, in recognition of excellence in the field of management
leadership. Other awards include the Henry Shaw Medal of the Missouri Botanical
Gardens, the Gold Medal of the Institute of Management, the Institute of Energy
Melchett Medal (2001), the Society of Petroleum Engineers Public Service Award
(2002), the Institution of Chemical Engineers Commemorative Medal (2003), the
inaugural Channing Corporate Citizenship Award from British American Business
Inc. (2004), the World Petroleum Congress Dewhurst Award (2005), the Dwight D
Eisenhower Leadership Award from the Business Council for International
Understanding.

He was voted Most Admired CEO by Management Today from 1999 - 2002.
He was knighted in 1998 and made a life peer in 2001.

                                    - ENDS -



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