Beleaguered  oil major BP Plc’s chief executive Tony Hayward will step down on 1 October and will be replaced by fellow executive Robert Dudley. Dudley is currently incharge of clean up operations at the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
News of Hayward’s departure came as the company announced that it would take a charge as a result of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill amounting to US $32.2 billion, driving BP to a second quarter loss of US $16.97 billion.
“The tragedy of the Macondo well explosion and subsequent environmental damage has been a watershed,” chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg said, announcing Hayward’s departure. “BP remains a strong business … but it will be a different company going forward.”
BP said Dudley, currently head of BP’s U.S. operations, would be based in London and hand over his present duties to Lamar McKay. Hayward will receive a year’s salary amounting to GBP 1.045 million (US $1.6 million). Excluding oil spill and other non-operating costs, BP’s replacement cost profit was US $4.98 billion, in line with the average forecast from a Reuters poll of 11 analysts. Replacement cost profit strips out gains or losses related to changes in the value of fuel inventories and as such is comparable with net income under US accounting rules. In a third statement, BP said it planned to sell assets worth up to US $30 billion over the next 18 months and cut its net debt level down to between US $10 billion and US $15 billion over the next 18 months. The company said it would consider its position on future dividend payments at the time of its fourth quarter results. -Agencies

Also Read

• Abu Dhabi mulls investment in British Petroleum
• NTPC to carve out subsidiaries for coal mining
• Oil eases below US $111 on Saudi assurances
• Ex-BP boss Hayward makes US $4 billion bet on Genel Energy
• Anil Agarwal appointed CEO NVVN