Crisis-hit BP to get first US boss

Robert Dudley, the man expected to replace Tony Hayward as chief executive of BP, will take charge of a crisis that is close to home.

Dudley grew up in Mississippi, part of the Gulf Coast region suffering environmental and economic damage from the Deepwater Horizon spill.

BP plans to name Dudley to succeed Hayward as chief executive as the board looks to recover the company's position in the US, according to two sources.

Dudley, the director of BP's oil spill response unit, is ready to be announced as the company's first American chief and to take the helm October 1.

The decision was reached in discussions with board members about how best to take BP forward and rebuild its US position, one of the sources said. The BP board meets today to "rubber stamp" the plan, the second source said.

"The fact he is American should help to keep things a little more straightforward in his dealings with the US Administration," said Ted Harper at Frost Investment Advisors in Houston. "Dudley's most important task will continue to be making sure that the well is capped."

Hayward has faced public anger in the US and criticism from lawmakers over his handling of the spill that was triggered by an April 20 explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig, which killed 11 people.

Dudley, 54, was born in New York and grew up in Mississippi. BP last month appointed him to manage its response to the leak.

Hayward will receive a pay-and-pension package worth £11.8 million ($25 million) when he leaves BP, the London-based Times reported. Hayward is expected to stay until September and not be paid his performance bonus for this year, the newspaper said.

The company, which announces second-quarter earnings tomorrow, has seen its market value fall by about £50 billion as it battled to stop the spill. The well has now been sealed, and BP plans to permanently plug it with cement next month.

Hayward "has the support of the board", BP spokesman Mark Salt said.

Dudley spent about 30 years in the oil industry, including a stint as chief executive of BP's Russian joint venture, TNK-BP, starting in 2003.

That job ended after disputes with Russian partners led to Dudley fleeing Russia in 2008, citing "sustained harassment" amid court battles and labour and tax inspections.

While seeking to contain public outrage over the environmental damage, Hayward made several gaffes, including saying he wanted his "life back" and calling the spill "relatively tiny" in a "very big ocean".

The well spewed 35,000 to 60,000 barrels of oil a day from a mile deep in the water, according to a US Government-led panel of scientists.

The New York Daily News said Hayward was "the most hated - and clueless - man in America".

US President Barack Obama said he would have fired Hayward, while White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said on ABC in June that "Tony Hayward isn't going to have a second career in PR consulting", while criticising the CEO for taking a yacht trip.

"Hayward turned the heat up on himself, and some of his misstatements served to boost the move for him to be replaced," Frost Investment's Harper said.

- BLOOMBERG

BOB DUDLEY
* Director of BP's oil spill response unit.
* Set to be BP's first American chief executive.
* Aged 54.
* Born in New York, grew up in Mississippi.
* Thirty years' experience in the oil industry. Includes role as chief executive of BP's Russian joint venture, TNK-BP. Dudley fled Russia in 2008.