BP’s next CEO to be revealed
The person who is in charge of overseeing the way in which British Petroleum, the company which has caused the largest ecological disaster in the history of the United States of America, has the highest chances of replacing Tony Hayward, the man who currently runs the company, and who has done it in the worst possible way, according to the experts.
If that will happen, then this will be the first time when an American will be in charge of the British company. It is very likely that Hayward will be fired from the position he currently holds, but it is unknown who will be his replacement. The official, who stated this, did it very briefly, and on condition of anonymity because official news regarding the situation has not been released yet. However, the company has released a different statement on Monday. They said that the company has not discussed about management changes, and even if they will discuss this issue in the future, they will need some time before they will be able to make a decision. The company stated that the officials will meet on Monday evening for further discussions. The company will release on Tuesday the official earnings for the second semester of the year. The shares of the company saw an increase of 2.2 percent at $6.31 in the early trading.
Most of the experts believe that Bob Dudley will be the one who will replace Tony Hayward. Bob Dudley is currently the managing director of the company, and who has been in charge with running the day-to-day oil response since June. The incident is personal for him, because he has spent his childhood in Mississippi, one of the areas which have been affected the most by the oil spill. The company was founded in 1909, and its original name was Anglo-Persian Oil Co. That was the first and only time when the company which is now called British Petroleum has been run by an American. Others believe that Iain Conn will be the one who will be named in charge of the company. Iain Conn is a Scotsman who is in charge of the refining and marketing division of the company. He is also one of the directors of the company. However a replacement for Tony Hayward can not be named unless the company agrees with the change.
The analysts and the people, who live in the Gulf area, see the change as a must. They believe that the company did not take care of the situation in the proper manner, and in the same time they accuse the company of not staying in touch with the people from the areas which have been affected by the spill. They feel that they have been left out and ignored, and they also believe that the company could have handles the situation differently. Fadel Gheit, who is the Oppenheimer & Co. senior analyst, believes that Dudley would be the perfect choice for replacing Hayward. He believes that Dudley is one of the best delegators in the industry, and also that since he grew up in the region, he will be able to communicate with the people much more effectively, and also that the people will trust him more.
Dudley has been in the industry for two decades. He started at Amoco Corp, the company which eventually merged with British Petroleum. He applied for the CEO slot three years ago, but he lost, as Hayward received the job. Most of the officials and experts believe that Dudley is more of a diplomat than Hayward. Hayward has constantly annoyed the US officials with his decision of ignoring their questions, and with the statements he has often made regarding the incident. A week after Dudley has been appointed with overseeing the situation, he has met with various US officials, has visited a place where the turtles affected by the oil are treated, and has met with the Gulf residents who were affected by the spill. The company has not confirmed that Hayward will be replaced from the position he currently holds. More than that, they have stated that Hayward has their full support and that for the moment he is the one who is in charge of the company.
The Deepwater Horizon incident occurred approximately three months ago, and the explosion which caused the destruction of the well, killed 11 people. The well has been plugged, and as a result, the oil has been stopped from spilling in the water. However, since the incident, more than 100 million gallons of oil have been spilled into the water, making it the biggest environmental incident in the history of the United States of America. Since the incident occurred, Hayward has made numerous gaffes.
He went to a yacht race, while the areas were highly affected by the oil, and he stated the famous words “I’d like my life back” which drew criticism from the people. Many believe that Hayward wasn’t such a bad leader, but that he became a sacrificial lamb for the company because of the incident. Gheit believes that even if Dudley is a better leader, he might not be able to change the situation. He stated that it is extremely difficult to change the leaders of a company, especially when the company has to face such difficult times.
New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu said that the most important thing would be for the company to make things right, regardless of who they appoint as leader. He believes that the company should admit that they made a mistake, because if they do it, they will gain the trust of the people. The company has spent more than $4 billion in order to fix the solution, but they will have to pay much more than that. They will have to pay $20 billion in damages, and on top of that they might have to pay additional compensations as well. The people from the areas affected by the spill were not surprised that the CEO if the company will be changed.
