Tony Hayward the Chief Executive of BP is set to be replaced by Robert Dudley. The disaster of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico seems to be claiming more than just sea and plant life.
The repeated stumbles of Tony Hayward a trained geologist, in the difficult situation have earned him the wrath of the BP board and the U.S. political system. The seemingly sluggish response of BP’s operations in the face of the disaster are being laid to rest at his door.
He is soon likely to be replaced by the American Robert Dudley, in a clear attempt of the London based BP company to show Americans how important they consider their relationship with them. Given as it is that 40% of its shareholders being American and so many of its oil and gas wells, refineries and other business interests are in America, it may be a wise move indeed.
Robert Dudley. Image Credit: BP
From 2003 to 2008, Robert Dudley served as the president and chief executive officer of TNK-BP. While Dudley was at the helm, TNK-BP grew organic oil production by 26 per cent, replaced its reserves at an annual average rate of 138 per cent, increased downstream earnings five-fold, achieved the lowest average finding and development cost among Russian oil companies and provided the highest (45 per cent a year) average shareholder return of any major Russian oil company. He left TNK-BP in late 2008.
Prior to joining TNK-BP, Mr. Dudley served as the group vice president responsible for BP's upstream businesses in Russia, the Caspian region, Angola, Algeria and Egypt. He previously was the group vice president for BP's Renewables and Alternative Energy activities within the Gas, Power & Renewables stream in London, with responsibilities for BP's global solar business and wind and hydrogen activities. Prior to that, he served as an executive assistant to the group chief executive officer. In 1999, he held the position of general manager for BP Group Strategy in London and was in a similar role with Amoco Corporation in Chicago prior to the merger between BP and Amoco.
Mr. Dudley was based in Moscow between 1994 and 1997 with Amoco in a corporate development role for both upstream and downstream businesses. Prior to that he worked on the restructuring of oil and gas research and development activities in the US, and between 1987 and 1993 he worked on the negotiation and development of projects in the South China Sea. He joined Amoco in 1979 and in the early years of his career worked in a variety of engineering and commercial roles in the US and UK.
Mr. Dudley and his wife of 29 years, Mary, have two children and will reside in London. He has a BA in chemical engineering from the University of Illinois. He received his MIM from the Thunderbird School of Global Management and also holds an MBA from Southern Methodist University.