New York: A day after he came under relentless attack at a Congressional hearing, BP chief executive Tony Hayward was displaced as the man in charge of the company's response to the spill.
"It is clear Tony has made remarks that have upset people," Carl-Henric Svanberg, the chairman of BP's board of directors, told the British television network Sky News on Friday.
Mr. Svanberg reiterated an earlier announcement that Robert Dudley, an American who joined BP as part of its acquisition of Amoco a decade ago, would take the lead in managing the London-based company's response to the continuing disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.
Mr. Svanberg also said that he personally would get more involved in the oil giant's handling of the crisis. "This has now turned into a reputational matter, a financial squeeze for BP and a political matter, and that is why you will now see more of me," said the chairman, who first stepped into the spotlight this week when he led BP's delegation to meet with President Obama in the White House.
Mr. Svanberg's remarks ramped up Wall Street speculation that a major BP management shakeup will come sooner rather than later. "It tells me poor Tony is really walking on very thin ice," said Fadel Gheit, a senior oil analyst at Oppenheimer & Co.
Also on Friday, one of BP's minority partners in the well publicly criticized the oil giant for the first time. In a statement released Friday, Anadarko Petroleum, which has a 25 percent stake in the disabled well, said the spill could have been prevented, accused BP of negligence, and said the company missed "several critical warning signs" during the drilling of the well.
"The mounting evidence clearly demonstrates that this tragedy was preventable and the direct result of BP's reckless decisions and actions," Jim Hackett, the chairman and CEO of Anadarko, said in the statement. "BP's behavior and actions likely represent gross negligence or willful misconduct and thus affect the obligations of the parties under the operating agreement."
Mr. Hackett also added that Anadarko would be donating any revenue from oil recovered during the cleanup to charities along the Gulf Coast.
The change in roles at BP, which spokesman Andrew Gowers said was a normal transition so that Mr. Hayward could refocus on running the whole company, came after the chief executive got lackluster reviews in the United States and Britain for his House performance. During his testimony, which stretched over seven hours, Mr. Hayward repeatedly said he was not responsible for the decisions that may have led to the accident and could not comment on its causes.
"He appeared to have drunk deeply of the wisdom of his lawyers," The Times, a London paper, dryly noted. A commentator in The Daily Telegraph said Mr. Hayward looking "like a tired undertaker who was rather bored with having to look mournful."
If BP's board were to choose another chief executive, Mr. Dudley would be a leading internal candidate. The former head of BP's Russian joint venture, TNK-BP, Mr. Dudley was force to flee Russia after a bitter dispute with the company's Russian partners. He has since kept a low profile at BP, serving on the company's board.
In a statement Friday, Representative Bart Stupak, the Michigan Democrat who was one of Mr. Hayward's harshest interrogators, said that the BP chief had been "evasive and obstructive" in his testimony.
"Whether this change in Gulf leadership for BP will be productive remains to be seen," Mr. Stupak said. "I expect that Mr. Dudley will take a much more cooperative and open approach to answering our questions and responding to the needs of the Gulf region. If not, his tenure will likely be as short lived as Mr. Hayward's."
Throughout the crisis, the company has publicly insisted that Mr. Hayward's job was secure and that he remained very much in charge of the company. Andrew Gowers, a company spokesman, said the board did not consider replacing Mr. Hayward at its meeting Monday.
At the outset of the crisis, the cherub-cheeked Mr. Hayward, 53, appeared to almost relish
his sudden celebrity. He downplayed the environmental consequences of the Deepwater Horizon explosion and repeatedly blamed Transocean, the rig owner, for the accident. He readily gave television interviews, and took to quoting Winston Churchill and comparing his company's response to the spill to World War II's illustrious seaborne evacuation at Dunkirk.
But as the crisis wore on, a visibly tired Mr. Hayward repeatedly displayed a tin ear and became prone to embarrassing gaffes. Perhaps worst of all was his comment on May 31, when he said he would like the whole disaster to end because "I'd like my life back." He later apologized.