The vote is a blow to BP's new management at a time when the company is pivoting back to its more profitable oil and gas business, and slashing its clean energy investments.

BP chairman Albert Manifold said investors voted against resolutions that would have permitted online-only general meetings and scrapped two of the company's climate disclosure obligations.

Management argued that the company-specific climate requirements had been "largely superseded" by legal changes that require mandatory climate disclosures.

But the resolutions received less than 50 percent of the vote, far from the 75 percent needed to pass.

The shareholders' meeting came a week after BP reported an 86 percent plunge in 2025 net profit, though it said oil trading operations had been "exceptional" in the first quarter amid Middle East-driven market volatility.

The company's performance has largely lagged behind its rivals in recent years, leading to a strategy and leadership shake-up.

Energy industry veteran Meg O'Neill became chief executive this month, replacing Murray Auchincloss.

Some of the investor discontent was directed at Manifold, the chairman, on Thursday, when 82 percent of shareholders voted in favour of his election -- below the near-unanimous support typically received by directors.

Anger had also been brewing after the company refused to put to a vote a resolution from the activist shareholder group Follow This, which called on BP to present a strategy to preserve shareholder value as oil and gas demand declines.

"Today, shareholders reminded BP's board who it works for. Not for itself, but for them," said Mark van Baal, chief executive of Follow This.

Shares in BP were flat in late afternoon trading in London.

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