Portuguese oil company Galp Energia is investigating an anonymous complaint about an alleged personal relationship between Chief Executive Filipe Silva and a company manager, economic website ECO reported on Saturday.
Galp's ethics committee is analyzing "alleged conflicts of interest due to a close and personal relationship (which had been) kept secret" with the female executive who reports to the CEO, ECO said, citing unidentified sources.
A Galp spokesperson declined to comment.
The news website did not identify the woman or specify her exact title, saying only she is a "superior director".
Galp's code of conduct requires personal relationships to be communicated to the company's ethics committee when potential conflicts of interest are involved.
ECO said Silva had told it he had not reported any personal relationship to the ethics committee and guaranteed that he had not been involved in any personal relationship which "threatened the integrity of Galp's decisions".
One of the unidentified sources told ECO that the ethics committee's investigation could eventually lead to Silva's dismissal.
Silva was picked as CEO in January 2023 for a four-year term due to end in late 2026.
Galp's main business is extracting oil and gas from a rich offshore field in Brazil. The company also runs the Sines refinery in Portugal and renewable energy plants.
(Reuters - Reporting by Sergio Goncalves; Editing by Inti Landauro and David Holmes)