The way the successor to John Browne managed expectations over a massive fall in profits was worthy of the old master himself.
A leak from his "town hall" meeting with staff in the US about a "dreadful" operating performance was enough to undermine any expectations that BP was heading for more big profit numbers despite tight refining margins.
By the time he announced this week that third-quarter figures were down by 45%, the City and Wall Street were sighing with relief that it was not worse.
The
