Hayward departure from BP called imminent

LONDON — Chief executive Tony Hayward's departure from spill-plagued BP appears imminent, British media reported.

While a company spokesman told Reuters Saturday that Hayward still has the full backing of BP's board, industry insiders said Hayward may announce his departure by Tuesday, when the oil giant releases its six-months earnings report.

The BP board meets Monday to decide whether the beleaguered boss should quit over his role in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, The Independent of London said Sunday.

If Hayward goes, the likely successor would be Robert Dudley, the American who has taken day-to-day charge of cleaning up the spill, the newspaper said.

Board's best interests at stake
Sources told The Independent that Hayward has offered to resign — or at least announce a coordinated departure — if the board feels it is in the best interests of the company after the public outrage over the oil spill and the media blitz on his position. The board is also said to be considering other alternatives, including bringing in outsiders, The Independent said.

After a weekend of detailed negotiations over Hayward's severance package, the London Telegraph predicted Saturday, "It now appears almost certain that he will announce his departure ahead of BP's half year results on Tuesday."

According to consensus estimates, those results are expected to show that BP has made profits of nearly $10 billion so far this year, despite the Deepwater Horizon disaster that left the oil company facing bills of many billions of dollars, the Telegraph said.

However, The Times of London reported Sunday that the "board is ready to axe Hayward" as the stricken company "heads for the biggest quarterly loss recorded for any British company."

Only with Hayward's departure can BP draw a line under the Gulf of Mexico disaster and plan for the future, the Telegraph said. The chairman, Carl-Henric Svanberg, is now believed to agree that Hayward should go and that BP needs to announce a root-and-branch change of operational culture, it said.

Sources close to the chairman have said that Svanberg has been surprised by some of the operational systems at the company, the Telegraph reported.

The Telegraph estimated Hayward, 52, would be paid at least $1.6 million, equivalent to a year's salary, on leaving BP but is almost certain to demand more for agreeing to go for the good of the company where he has worked for 28 years. He will also be able to start collecting an approximately $900,000-a-year pension when he turns 60, the Telegraph said.

Sky News Business Editor Mark Kleinman wrote Saturday in a blog on the TV station's website: "It now looks increasingly likely to me that BP will make an announcement about the future of its board and management in three days' time.

"The strongest possibility is that that will involve the departure of Tony Hayward."

Hayward's gaffes
Hayward was criticized for a series of public relations gaffes and a failure to quickly stem the three-month leak in the Gulf of Mexico.

He angered U.S. senators at a June 17 congressional committee after refusing to say the Gulf accident was solely BP’s responsibility. He enjoyed a June yachting weekend during the height of the crisis. He told the media on May 31 he "would like my life back" as the pressures of dealing with the crisis mounted. Earlier in May he twice estimated the environmental impact of the spill would be "modest."

Lately, however, as Dudley represented the company in spill matters, Hayward has traveled the globe on BP's behalf. He flew to Russia to reassure the government BP would not sell its 50-percent stake in TNK-BP and would retain its $1 billion holding in Russia's state oil company Rosneft, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Hayward also visited Azerbaijan to assure leaders BP would continue investing in Caspian Sea exploration and facilities, the Journal said. He also met with leaders of Abu Dhabi and Angola, it said.