During Browne’s tenure as BP CEO, he presided over a fivefold increase in the company’s market capitalisation to £104.6 billion ($A261.2 billion) and profits to $22.3 billion. The group’s share price has also gone up around 250%.
But he was also at the helm when two disastrous mishaps in the company's US operations occurred - the Texas City refinery fire and explosion that killed 15 people, and pipeline corrosion in Alaska that led to an extended shutdown of the eastern part of the major Prudhoe Bay oil field.
News of Browne's impending departure sparked a 1.8% surge in BP's share price, adding 3.3 billion pounds to its market capitilisation.
Head of exploration and production Tony Hayward will replace Browne, who will step down after more than a decade as CEO.
BP chairman Peter Sutherland said he and Browne had agreed around mid-2006 that he would stay as CEO until end-2008.
“John [Browne] decided that it would be in the company’s interest to name a successor now in order to provide an orderly transition,” Sutherland said in a statement on Friday.
“Having made that decision, which the board fully supports, we came to the conclusion that a six-month handover would be more appropriate than 18 months.”
Browne said it had been a privilege to have had the opportunity to lead BP.
“We clearly have important issues still to deal with which I am determined to address," he said.
“I am pleased that Peter and I have been able to work together to develop a successor in Tony in whom I have every confidence.”
Hayward, who joined the company in 1982, was appointed to the board in 2003, when he became CEO of BP’s exploration and production unit.
After a number of technical and commercial roles in BP Exploration in London, Aberdeen, France, China and Glasgow, he moved to Colombia as exploration manager in 1992.
In 1995, he became president of the BP group in Venezuela.
Two years later, Hayward returned to London as a director of BP Exploration and following the merger of BP and Amoco in 1999, he became group vice president and member of the upstream executive committee.
BP said he was appointed group treasurer in 2000 before being appointed executive vice president in 2002, becoming chief operating officer for exploration and production later that year.
He is due to replace Browne on August 1.
