Under-fire BP boss takes the back seat
Source: Agencies |
June 23, 2010, Wednesday
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BELEAGUERED BP boss Tony Hayward retreated from daily management of the United States oil spill crisis yesterday and dodged making a conference speech where his stand-in was heckled by angry environmentalists.
BP Plc shares fell as much as 4.8 percent to a 13-year low after the company confirmed that Bob Dudley, a veteran of the company's troubles in Russia, is now managing the crisis response. Officials had insisted in recent days that Hayward would stay in the front line until the leaking BP well in the Gulf of Mexico was plugged.
"Hayward will remain at the helm for the near term but ultimately this fiasco might prove career-shortening for him," said a fund manager from one of BP's top 20 investors yesterday.
A series of PR gaffes by Hayward and a failure to quickly stem the leak has piled pressure on the CEO since an explosion on the rig killed 11 workers and ruptured a well, unleashing millions of gallons of crude that still flows into the sea more than two months later.
A US court decision will come this week over whether to uphold a post-spill ban on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.
The six-month ban was imposed by President Barack Obama's government - also suffering severe criticism for the way it has handled the worst oil spill in US history which has soiled the coasts of four states, threatens tourism and fishing industries and has seeped into ecologically sensitive wetlands.
Oil drilling companies are contesting the ban, but it has support among environmentalists and sympathy among fisherman who suffered an extension of fishing bans this week.
In London yesterday, protesters twice interrupted a speech by BP Chief of Staff Steve Westwell, Hayward's replacement in an appearance at the World National Oil Companies Congress.
"We need to end the oil age," one young woman from environmental group Greenpeace shouted as she was removed by a security guard.
BP Plc shares fell as much as 4.8 percent to a 13-year low after the company confirmed that Bob Dudley, a veteran of the company's troubles in Russia, is now managing the crisis response. Officials had insisted in recent days that Hayward would stay in the front line until the leaking BP well in the Gulf of Mexico was plugged.
"Hayward will remain at the helm for the near term but ultimately this fiasco might prove career-shortening for him," said a fund manager from one of BP's top 20 investors yesterday.
A series of PR gaffes by Hayward and a failure to quickly stem the leak has piled pressure on the CEO since an explosion on the rig killed 11 workers and ruptured a well, unleashing millions of gallons of crude that still flows into the sea more than two months later.
A US court decision will come this week over whether to uphold a post-spill ban on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.
The six-month ban was imposed by President Barack Obama's government - also suffering severe criticism for the way it has handled the worst oil spill in US history which has soiled the coasts of four states, threatens tourism and fishing industries and has seeped into ecologically sensitive wetlands.
Oil drilling companies are contesting the ban, but it has support among environmentalists and sympathy among fisherman who suffered an extension of fishing bans this week.
In London yesterday, protesters twice interrupted a speech by BP Chief of Staff Steve Westwell, Hayward's replacement in an appearance at the World National Oil Companies Congress.
"We need to end the oil age," one young woman from environmental group Greenpeace shouted as she was removed by a security guard.
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