Galp Chief Executive Filipe Silva Resigns for Family Reasons

(Bloomberg) — Galp Energia SGPS SA said Filipe Silva resigned as chief executive officer of the Portuguese oil company for family reasons.

The resignation will have immediate effect and Galp will announce the new executive leadership in the coming days, the Lisbon-based company said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday night.

Portuguese news website Eco on Jan. 3 reported that Galp’s ethics committee was investigating an anonymous tip about an alleged personal relationship between CEO Silva and a manager at the company. In response, Eco reported that Silva denied that any personal relationship had threatened his decision-making.

A Galp spokesman said on Tuesday night that the ethics committee’s investigation is ongoing and declined to make further comments on the probe. The spokesman said Silva declined to comment.

Galp will pick a new CEO as it’s carrying out exploration in the Mopane oil find in Namibia, which the company last year described as a potentially “important” discovery. Galp also holds stakes in offshore blocks in Brazil and operates the Sines refinery in Portugal. It followed other larger oil producers in expanding in renewable energy and has about 1.5 gigawatts of generation capacity, mostly solar projects.

“I would like to emphasize the contribution Filipe has made to the company over the last 12 years, a period during which his dedication was important for Galp’s growth,” Chairman Paula Amorim said in the statement. “Galp’s executive committee remains in the hands of a highly qualified team that will ensure the execution and implementation of the company’s strategy.”

Silva, 60, had been Galp’s CEO since January 2023 and his term was scheduled to end in 2026. He was previously chief financial officer at the company, having started in that role in 2012. Before joining Galp, Silva was the head of Deutsche Bank in Portugal.

Amorim Energia BV, a venture controlled by Chairman Amorim’s family and partly owned by Angolan oil firm Sonangol EP, is Galp’s biggest shareholder with a 37% stake. Portuguese state holding company Parpublica owns 8.2% of Galp.

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