Shakeup

With its reputation in tatters and costs continuing to escalate, BP plc on Tuesday announced a radical shakeup that will bring in new leadership and lead to divestments to make the company leaner. The expected asset sales, scheduled to be completed over the next 18 months, could result in the loss of 8% of BP’s total natural gas and oil production worldwide, which still would put the company ahead of Royal Dutch Shell plc.

With the continuing global shakeup in the banking industry, a highly profitable joint venture commodity trading business between the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and San Diego-based Sempra Energy could eventually unravel, although Sempra moved Monday to put the situation in perspective for U.S. financial markets. Sempra CEO Donald Felsinger issued a statement in response to news reports that RBS may divest its interest in the RBS Sempra Commodities joint venture.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska is vying for the vice chairmanship of the Senate Republican Conference, which will become vacant as a result of the shakeup in GOP leadership following an admission by Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) of an extramarital affair. Senate Minority Lead Mitch McConnell (R-KY) “talked to her about the position and encouraged her to run for it,” said Robert Dillon, a spokesman for Murkowski. Murkowski is seeking to replace Sen. John Thune (R-SD), who has set his sights on the chairmanship formerly held by Ensign, The Hill newspaper reported. Ensign resigned as chairman earlier this month after he publicly admitted the affair. The Senate GOP is expected to vote Thursday. The vice chairmanship is considered the No. 5 leadership position among Senate Republicans. “I have been participating and giving my input and thinking down the road about the prospect of coming on in an elected capacity,” Murkowski told the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner last week. “I did not anticipate there would be an opening until the next Congress…I do feel I have something to offer, a moderating voice in our conference, which is good.” Murkowski has gained prominence in the Republican party over the last couple of years. She plans to remain on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, where she is the ranking Republican.

Fresh from a shakeup at the top of its debt-plagued organization, San Jose, CA-based Calpine Corp. Thursday said it has asked the Delaware Chancery Court for 90 days to restore only part of the $313 million in natural gas asset sales proceeds that the court last month ruled had been misappropriated by the troubled power plant developer/operator. The court’s Vice Chancellor Leo Strine had ordered that the funds be restored to a special account earmarked for senior bondholders. Calpine said it is continuing to evaluate its options, including the possibility of filing for bankruptcy.

In yet another financial management shakeup at Dynegy Inc., former Shell Co. executive Nick J. Caruso has been named CFO and executive vice president effective immediately.