2nd UPDATE: BP's CEO To Hand Off Day-To-Day Gulf Operations

(Updates with comment from a BP spokeswoman) LONDON (Dow Jones)--BP PLC's (BP, BP.LN) chairman said Friday that Chief Executive Tony Hayward is turning over day-to-day responsibility for operations involving the Gulf of Mexico oil spill to a BP managing director. "He is now handing over the daily operations to Bob Dudley," Carl-Henric Svanberg said in an interview with Sky News. BP flagged the move on June 4, when it announced that Dudley, a BP managing director and former boss of BP's Russia joint venture TNK-BP, would head up a new stand-alone organization to manage BP's long-term oil spill response. "The organization will be focused on the response while the rest of the company focuses on delivering our strategy," Hayward said at the time. Svanberg didn't elaborate on the handover during the interview. But a BP spokeswoman said Dudley would take over the Gulf operations gradually, and Hayward would retain ultimate authority. "Bob will take over the Gulf operations over time," Sheila Williams said in an emailed response to questions. "Tony will continue to oversee the operations, and will run the BP group business." Asked when Hayward would return to BP corporate headquarters in London, she said: "We don't discuss travel plans of our senior management." Svanberg deflected questions on Hayward's future at BP. The Swedish chairman of the company acknowledged that Hayward, since the April 20 accident that triggered the spill, had made comments that "upset" people. Despite the fallout from the spill, Svanberg maintained that he expects the company to emerge from the crisis. "You must remember BP is a very strong company," Svanberg said. "We will come through this." BP is still estimating the costs and damages from the oil spill, he added. Reacting to criticism that BP had cut corners on safety, he said that wasn't the company's intention. -By Jeffrey Sparshott, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 (0)207 842 9347; jeffrey.sparshott@dowjones.com (END) Dow Jones Newswires June 18, 2010 15:59 ET (19:59 GMT)