BP (BP.L) CEO Bernard Looney’s untimely retirement has left the British oil corporation in a leadership crisis with no clear successor, business and industry insiders said Wednesday.

According to reports, many current and former BP insiders were considered to follow Looney, who resigned as CEO on Tuesday after failing to disclose prior personal interactions with workers.
Looney’s departure after three and a half years as CEO and a lifetime with BP led the board to appoint CFO Murray Auchincloss as temporary CEO.

According to sources in a town hall on Wednesday, Chairman Helge Lund told workers that the board is searching internally and outside for a new permanent leader.

Looney worked on a long-term energy transition plan to move BP from oil and gas to renewables. According to corporate insiders, the 53-year-old CEO had not begun grooming a successor since he wanted to remain for many years.

According to two business insiders, Auchincloss, 52, collaborated with Looney on BP’s energy transition plan and urged high-return assets to fund it. Last year, BP’s historic oil and gas businesses generated a record $28 billion in earnings.

The odds of Auchincloss staying CEO were limited, three corporate sources told Reuters.

“Murray is a fantastic man and CFO. One BP insider claimed Auchincloss has never overseen a business unit and doubts he will continue as CEO.

Auchincloss was a U.S. financial analyst who worked for Amoco and later BP following their 1998 merger, usually in financial rather than production positions, in the North Sea and North America.

BP and other majors have historically promoted production or refining executives, not finance professionals, to CEOs.

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Chairman Lund, Gordon Birrell, and William Lin are internal candidates. A BP rep denied comment.

Sources said Lund was the best choice since he was CEO of Equinor (EQNR.OL) and BG before its merger with Shell.

The Norwegian, who turned 60 last year, has admitted in private meetings with business insiders that he may no longer want to be a CEO.

Birrell, who turns 60 this year, managed BP’s operations in Azerbaijan, Alaska, Canada, and the North Sea and investigated the 2010 Macondo well disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. His whole career has been in oil and gas.

Lin, 55, has worked at BP for 25 years as oil and gas COO.

Three former BP executives are external candidates: Rolls-Royce (RR.L) CEO Tufan Erginbilgic, who led BP’s downstream division, and Ineos Energy chairman Brian Gilvary, Auchincloss’ predecessor as CFO.

Looney defeated Erginbilgic, 60, and Gilvary, 58, to replace CEO Bob Dudley in 2020.

Three sources stated De Beers CEO Al Cook, a former BP and Equinor executive, is a prospective contender. Gilvary said nothing. Erginbilgic and Cook did not respond to requests for comment.