BP Board Must Give Hayward’s Replacement Strong Support

Neil Atkinson, director of energy and utilities research and analysis at Datamonitor, said: “From very soon after the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded on April 20th it has seemed inevitable that BP’s CEO Tony Hayward would leave the company before the end of the year. His gaffe-prone performances in front of the cameras and a gruesome appearance before a Congressional committee led to an irreversible loss of credibility. His worst gaffe, a comment that he “would like my life back” when standing on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico shortly after the explosion, now looks to be a wish come true with the BP board expected to announce his departure from the company some time this week.

“With BP’s results due to be published this week – and thought likely to contain a huge provision for cleaning up the spill and paying compensation – the company seems to be getting all its bad news out of the way at once and hoping to move into a new era. The widely anticipated appointment of Robert Dudley should go some way to appeasing BP’s critics particularly in view of the fact that’s since he became the face of the company following the removal of Tony Hayward from the media firing line media criticism of the company has become less personalised and virulent. We must hope that the appointment of Mr Dudley is made entirely on merit and not because he is a native of Mississippi, one of the states affected by the spill.

“On arriving in the CEO’s office Mr Dudley will inherit a daunting in-box. His priorities will be:

1)  Permanently seal the oil spill.
2)  Establish a boundary in terms of who can sue BP and how much the potential liabilities might           be. This is essential to provide clarity to investors.

3) Lobby the US government to ensure that BP’s role in future upstream activity is not affected by       legislation that might be judged as vindictive.

4) Mr Dudley will have to fight to preserve BP’s independence from several potential predators,            most notably ExxonMobil.

“Mr Dudley is entering the CEO’s office at the worst point in BP’s history and he has an unenviable task. He will need strong support from a board that has exhibited little backbone in public so far during this crisis.

Neil Atkinson, director of energy and utilities research and analysis at Datamonitor, is available for comment.

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