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BP’s huge loss - a good day to ‘bury’ Tony Hayward
Bob Dudley expected to replace Tony Hayward at BP as second quarter results plummet into the red
The BP board is expected to decide the fate of Tony Hayward at an eve-of-results meeting today - if it has not done so already. And it is widely expected that the beleaguered CEO will go quickly, taking with him a £1m pay-off, a £10.8m pension pot and a healthy shareholding - currently valued at about £2.7m, and doubtless worth a lot more once a new man is at the helm.
It is generally reckoned that the oil giant did not want to push Hayward overboard while the Macondo spill was at full-spew. But with the cap now holding, the relief well nearly complete, and an end in sight to the long, sorry saga in the Gulf of Mexico, everyone's ready to move on.
Bob Dudley, the American managing director of BP, who recently took over responsibility for the Gulf clean-up and compensation programme, is the man most likely to take over as CEO. As The First Post reported last month, Dudley has handled the local difficulties with aplomb, relative to Hayward's generally awkward, gaffe-prone style.
Another contender said to have board support is Iain Conn, the Scot who currently heads refining and marketing at BP.
There was speculation earlier this month that the group might also offload its chairman, Carl-Henric Svanberg. But he is thought to be safe for the time being.
Chances are Hayward's departure will be announced on Tuesday - a good day to bury bad news, as the spin-doctors might say, because BP's second-quarter results are expected to be grim reading. With the Gulf clean-up and compensation costs approaching $30bn, Barclays Capital reckons the group will be posting a $13bn loss - thought to be the largest single-quarter deficit in British corporate history.
Meanwhile, according to a report in the Observer, BP's internal inquiry into the cause of the Gulf spill has found no evidence of gross negligence on BP's part.
As a result, it will "robustly defend itself" against any claims that it cut corners on standard oil industry safety measures. ·
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There is more than enough blame to go around. That neither Halliburton nor any other US corporation will accept any of it should not surprise. Halliburton, headquarted in Houston, TX and the world's second largest oil field services company, is a major player in US political and economic arenas. Big Oil has long been above the law. That will change only when alternative energies come to the fore. The challenge is to find ways of living and working productively in community despite corporate enconomic and political systems that are unsustainable and failing, not to mention the deceit, violence, and inequality that characterize them. The question is how best to encourage and facilitate the necessary paradigm shifts.
Peter Jarrett.....Spot on!
i hope the yanks are happy. The cowards in the USA who want someones head, now have it. All of this without any kind of enquiry into what really happened. What about the role of Haliburton and other US companies? Yanks say nothing about that do they! If BP are wholly to blame, then so be it, nail their backsides to the wall, but first, lets find out if they are guilty and also how much guilt. Is it the way of the USA to blame someone else as long as they/the company is foreign? Perhaps the USA's idea of justice is to execute first then have the trial to see if they are guilty afterwards! Should the USA be spelt cowards?
USA, what about Bopal, Piper Alpha, Niger delta to name but three. I do not see anyone in the USA rushing forward to help in those places. BP's "crime"? They had their name on the rig and when something went wrong it affected the mainland USA. Never mind who is to blame in reality, lets blame the foreigners. No wonder no one likes Americans.
I should add that I have no connection with BP in any way shape or form. I even fill up at the local Shell station!