Hayward Loses out in Struggle at BP.Pdf

i1 - - Hayward loses out in struggle atBP tunate necessity of his departure, rather than News analysis clamouring for him to leave. Svanberg likely to As one person close to the stay on as chairman company put it: "Up until April 19 [the day before the to lead search for a Deepwater Horizon explo new chief executive, sion], his performance was excellent. " writes Ed Crooks Appointed in 2007 to rec tifY BP's terrible fmancial For the past few weeks and operational record in Carl-Henrie Svanberg (left). Tony Hayward and Bob Dudley leave the White House after meeting President Obama Reuters Tony Hayward and Carl- the final years of his prede- Hennc :::>vanberg have been cessor Lore! tsrowne, he locked in a battle for sur seemed to have set the com he has had to go, however, BP still believes it has a had to resolve the chair However, his performance vival. pany on the right course. seems to be that he has lost future in the US, in spite of manship first. on June 16 at the White BP's chief executive and Profits rose sharply relative the confidence of the US the spill, and it would have Mr Svanberg's perform House to negotiate BP's chairman have both been to BP's peers and the shares public and politicians. been impossible to sustain ance during the crisis was payment of $20bn for vic savagely criticised for their outperformed. Meanwhile, A succession of perceived its presence there with Mr attacked by several of BP's tims of the spill, when he roles in the Gulf of Mexico measured indicators of gaffes in interviews made Hayward as chief executive. leading ' investors, who felt seems to have struck up a crisis, Mr Hayward most safety improved. him, in the words of the While his departure was he had not been sufficiently good working relationship strongly in the US, Mr Even before any of the New York Daily News, "the unavoidable, the timing of engaged or doing enough to with President Barack Svanberg by UK sharehold investigations into the dis most hated and clueless it was still up for debate. help and supervise Mr Hay Obama, has counted in his ers. aster have concluded, there man in America". In British corporate gov ward. favour. Among BP's investors has been some evidence to Another person close to ernance, the prime job of Some of his defenders Now it looks as though he there has been an expecta suggest that that improve BP said the prime criterion any chairman is to hire have said "he has not done will be allowed to stay on to tion that both would have ment in safety had not sunk for decisions about manage and, if necessary, fire the anything wrong", to which lead the succession. to lose their jobs, so that as deeply into the company ment was not past perform chief executive. his critics might retort that That does not look diffi the company could begin to as Mr Hayward had hoped. ance, but ability to lead the Before BP could make a he has not done much right, cult. The Mississippi-raised look to the future. The central reason why company in the future. decision on Mr Hayward, it either. Bob Dudley, who has been Among BP's board and its helping to restore BP's advisers, however, there image in the US with his have been deep concerns Dudley w111 'need his quiet steeliness and experience as a tough arbiter performance as the new about the idea of changing head of the company's both the top jobs at the Bob Dudley will nl$:! more operational culture and owned by BP and Russian Mr Dudley was forced to response to the spill, is the company simultaneously, than his fabled calmness survive as an ' independent billionaire shareholders. flee Russia. He cited a obvious candidate. leaving BP with a double under fire - strenuously business. Supporters say he had campaign of harassment. BP While the leaking well in transition to new leadership tested in a shareholder Mr Dudley. BP's managing been a tough arbiter of said this was orchestrated the Gulf is not yet perma when ,it is in a vulnerable dispute in Russia - if he director for the Americas diverging shareholder by the Russian shareholders. nently sealed, but merely position. succeeds Tony Hayward as and Asia. has improved the interests as chief executive which they denied. fitted with a temporary cap, In effect, that has meant BP's chief executive. company's image since he since it was founded in He began his career with it might still be too early that either Mr Hayward or write Brian GrOom and was put in charge of co 2003. BP's Russian partners. Amoco in 1979. moving to for Mr Dudley to take over. Mr Svanberg would have to Catherine Belton. ordinating its Gulf of Mexico however. accused him of BP when it took over Amoco He runs the risk of hav go first. It is that battle that The American will need to clean-up and compensation running the company only in in 1998. At BP he was an ing his reputation tarnished Mr Svanberg appears to convince investors and efforts a month ago. In BP's interests as they executive assistant to Lord right at the outset if some- have won. , lawmakers that BP can meet 2008. he won plaudits from sought more control. Browne. the former chief thing goes wrong. That Many of BP's sharehold its $40bn-plus liabilities, BP colleagues for his quiet As pressure mounted with executive. and oversaw might be the single best j ers have been very support come through an array of steeliness in handling the investigations into labour law operations in Russia before reason for BP's board to ive of Mr Hayward. They investigations, transform its dispute at TNK-BP. 50:50 violations and visa problems. heading TNK-BP. give Mr Hayward just a lit- were resigned to the unfor- tle longer. I Simon Boxall of the UK's report by the American News analysis National Oceanography Bird Conservancy, a conser Centre at Southampton Uni vation charity, found that True consequences versity. in some cases BP was look for the environment The Coast Guard broadly ing for the oil in the wrong agreed, although Mr Jindal places. It found that many may not be known noted that still left 1.59m of the booms and ski=ers for months, write barrels of crude in the Gulf, being used were ineffective, where it continued to and said it had seen BP Harvey Morris and threaten the coastline of clean-up operators miss out Fiona Harvey Louisiana and its neigh on large areas where there bours. was still oil on the surface With oil no longer flowing The decision last Thurs of the sea. into the Gulf of Mexico and day by Jane Lubchenco, Visible oil is only part of with BP on the way to shut head of the National Oce the problem, moreover. ting down permanently its anic and Atmospheric Studies of undersea pollu ill-fated Macondo well, sci Administration (NOAA), to tion have been under way entific assessments are reopen a third of the SO,ooo since May to establish the under way to determine the square miles of federal existence of vast plumes of full extent of the environ waters previously closed to oil identified by some aca mental consequences of the fishermen reflected a per demic teams as potentially 87-day leak. ception of a diminished threatening marine life The answer, which may threat in at least some hundreds of metres beneath not be known for months, areas of the gulf. the surface of the gulf. will inevitably fall some "When you fly over the "What we found was that .., where between the wilder Gulf of Mexico you see a there were certain indica z claims that the massive dramatic change," Mr Sut tors of oil and that it z;I> spill would annihilate tles said. was highly dispersed," said n marine life in the world's However, many environ Larry Mayer, a New Hamp :;; ninth largest sea and the mental groups are sceptical shire University oceanogra r -f early judgment of Tony of this sanguine attitude. A pher. When it came to the ,..,3: Hayward, chief executive of quantities of oil found - VI BP, that the impact would studies showed traces of s:: be "very, very modest". between one to seven parts o z Complicating the issue is per million - he said it was o a single question: where is too early to gauge the ;I> -< the oil? impact. 'c The Financial Times put Another issue is the dis ~ the question to Doug Sut persants used to clean up N a> tles, BP's chief operating the spill, which some scien N officer, when he visited an tists fear could end up hav o undersea robot co=and A brown ing a worse effect on sea o vessel in the Louisiana oil pelican on life than the oil. Martin town of Port Fourchon. the Florida Preston, a marine chemist "The oil has gone to a coast at the University of Liver number of places," he said. pool, said the effects of the "About 1m barrels was col dispersants were still lected and a quarter of a unknown, as their use in million barrels burned. It's this manner was "unprece a very light oil, so lots of it Kill delayed dented". evaporated." Some local experts in Mr Suttles noted there BP's operations to kill its Louisiana say the wetlands had been a dramatic Macondo well have been have suffered decades of oil decrease in quantities of delayed by seven to nine pollution since the industry surface oil since the leak days after a storm alert in began there, and that the was capped.

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