The head of BP’s safety committee at the time of the Macondo well blowout and spill is set to stand down from the board as part of a top-level shake-up at the UK supermajor following the 2010 accident in the Gulf of Mexico.
William Castell, former chairman of BP’s safety, ethics and environment assurance committee, will not seek re-election at its annual general meeting in April, the company said in a statement on Friday.
Castell, who has served on the BP board for six years, handed over the chairman’s role on the safety committee to Paul Anderson in December.
He will be replaced as an independent director on the board by Andrew Shilston, while Ann Dowling, head of the engineering department at the UK’s Cambridge University, has been appointed to the board and safety committee.
BP chief executive Bob Dudley, paying tribute to Castell, said he had helped to “further embed safety as the number-one priority” at the company.
The Macondo accident, which resulted in one of the world’s worst-ever marine oil spills and the deaths of 11 workers on the rig Deepwater Horizon, triggered a major inquiry into safety standards at the UK giant.
