The City warned BP last night not to rule out further senior departures if the company receives a damning report tomorrow on the Texas refinery disaster that claimed 15 lives.
The BP-commissioned report on the 2005 incident, which runs to more than 250 pages and has been compiled by James Baker, the former US Secretary of State, is understood to be highly critical of failings in BP’s safety processes.

 
 
An institutional fund manager, who asked not to be named, said that City investors would want to study the report before drawing their own conclusions. However, he said: “If the report is bad, then more people might have to leave.”

Jason Kenney, an oil analyst with ING in Edinburgh, said: “There is no doubt that sentiment has taken a big kicking. The oil and gas industry is a hazardous business — your reputation is your licence to operate.”

However, BP is hoping that the company will get away with no further departures in the wake of the report, largely because the dossier is understood not to single out any individual for blame, which the company hopes means that “no more heads will roll”.

Last Friday Lord Browne of Madingley shocked the City by announcing a year earlier than originally planned his retirement as chief executive of BP, which he transformed into a global giant. The impending report is understood to have played a key role in hastening his departure.

Under most pressure is John Manzoni, the head of refining and marketing, who was ultimately responsible for the Texas plant. However, because the report will argue that there were structural failings in the company’s safety procedures, it could be argued that the company as a whole — and, by implication, the board itself — is at fault.

A dismissal could be implied as an admission of guilt, which could cause problems in the event of any future litigation from the US Department of Justice, which the Baker report is designed to mitigate.

Instead, boardroom discussion is expected to focus on whether to accept Mr Baker’s recommendations. The company is unlikely, though, to agree all its findings, because the tone is so critical, and some of it is based on employee research, which BP may not necessarily agree with.

The company has been anxiously canvassing the City to gauge sentiment about its latest scandal. The recent outbreak of scandals in the US has damaged Lord Browne’s reputation, as well as BP’s.

Once the darling of the press, Lord Browne will be the public face of BP tomorrow in London, while Robert Malone, its US chief, will handle American media from Houston. The company is keen to keep Lord Browne’s successor, Tony Hayward, out of the spotlight to distance him from the affair.

BP ordered the report after fielding harsh criticism from Carolyn Merritt, the head of the US Chemical Investigation Board, which is due to release its own findings this March.

BP has put aside $1.6 billion (£815 million) to compensate victims of the explosion and has settled nearly 1,000 lawsuits. In testimony before Congress, Mr Malone said BP had “fallen short of the high standards we hold for ourselves”.