Rupert Steiner

How to keep the oil flowing in a dangerous world

Rupert Steiner talks to Britain’s most admired businessman, BP chief executive <br /> Lord Browne, about Middle East conflict and management philosophy

issue 13 May 2006

Rupert Steiner talks to Britain’s most admired businessman, BP chief executive
Lord Browne, about Middle East conflict and management philosophy

Click, click, click, but no amount of clicking brings to life the silver and gold lighter in Lord Browne of Madingley’s hand. The chief executive of BP, Europe’s largest oil company, has run out of fuel and the irony is not lost on him. But colleagues rush to bring the lighter to life; one more click, and Browne is billowing smoke. ‘You’d better not write about that,’ he says, a huge grin emerging from the fog.

John Browne is Britain’s most admired businessman, and has catapulted BP from a market value of £20 billion in 1995 to a global supertanker worth £139 billion today. Last month BP topped forecasts for its first quarter results with underlying profits of $5.3 billion. It is now the second largest oil company in the world behind Exxon Mobil.

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