Oil Giant Faces Future
It’s time for the oil giant to wave goodbye to Peter Sutherland , its Irish chairman, but what is next for the CV of the man who’s already run the World Trade Organisation?
Peter Sutherland was in a grim mood on Monday morning: the day preceeding Ireland’s loss to Argentina in the Rugby World Cup, he could scarcely contain himself. He’d been at the game at Parc des Princes with his children and words such as “suicidal” and “bejesus” poured from his lips.
Yesterday, he was on the Eurostar, travelling back to Paris, for a meeting that was a mixture of both politics and business. Such are the opposing worlds of Sutherland: Dubliner, father of three, huge rugby enthusiast, chairman of BP, chairman of Goldman Sachs International, new chairman of the London School of Economics, diplomatic fixer and afterdinner speaker extraordinaire.
If we’re given a choice when we finally get to the Pearly Gates I’d wish to come back as a smart Irishman. In the past, I might deliberated over being an English aristocrat but it’s the Irish who are in charge now. They seem to be in charge of everything. The epitome of this is Sutherland, a key figure in two business powerhouses and a millionaire many times over, thanks to his partnership at Goldman. But he’s served 10 years at BP and has begun the search for someone to take the reins. Suddenly, the oil major has to confront life without him .
It’s very easy to establish through talking to anyone at BP, these past few years to realise what a force Peter Sutherland has been behind the scenes. While the company has had a variety of issues in America, they have been operational. On personnel matters, notably the attempt by Lord Browne and his friends to get the chief executive’s term extended, and then Browne’s departure following his lying under oath, Sutherland has played a pivotal role. His contribution in bringing BP forward is something which few can dispute.
