BP Share News (BP.)

(Adds CEO comment, background.) By James Herron Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES LONDON (Dow Jones)--BP PLC (BP) said Tuesday that Robert Dudley, the executive director who heads the company's oil spill response effort in the Gulf of Mexico, will lead the entire company from October 1 when embattled Chief Executive Tony Hayward steps down. "It will be a different company going forward, requiring fresh leadership supported by robust governance and a very engaged board," Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg said in a statement. In sacrificing Hayward and choosing Dudley, BP's board of directors has made it clear that restoring the company's reputation in the U.S. is its top priority, said analysts. In a conference call with reporters, Hayward acknowledged that he had become, "a lightning rod for public anger," over the spill and it was necessary to have a new face at the top of the company if BP is to move forward in the U.S. "The Gulf of Mexico explosion was a terrible tragedy for which--as the man in charge of BP when it happened--I will always feel a deep responsibility," Hayward said in a statement. It remains unclear who bears the blame for the explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon on April 20 that killed eleven men and triggered the worst oil spill in U.S. history, but BP's boss has become the reviled public face of the disaster following a series of gaffes and repeated failures to bring the leak under control. As Hayward faced increasingly personal attacks, BP's shares plunged by more than half and the cost of insuring its debt soared. It was only by agreeing to suspend dividend payments for the remainder of 2010 and paying $20 billion over three-and-a-half years into a compensation fund that BP was able to calm the situation. BP's position has improved in recent weeks. Its shares have rebounded by more than a third from the 14-year low they hit on June 29. The company finally capped the leak on July 16 and is possibly just weeks away from permanently plugging the well. However, many people questioned whether Hayward was in a position to lead BP out of the mire, especially when the company is still politically weak--facing investigations into its safety record and a push from Capitol Hill to exclude it from future oil and gas licenses in the U.S. "We are highly fortunate to have a successor of the calibre of Bob Dudley who has spent his working life in the oil industry both in the U.S. and overseas and has proved himself a robust operator in the toughest circumstances," said Svanberg. It is vital that BP continue as a viable long-term business in the U.S. Around a quarter of its oil and gas production, and the greater part of its growth ambitions, come from that country. "Hayward became the sacrificial lamb," aimed at preserving BP's status in the U.S., said Oppenheimer analyst Fadel Gheit. The decision to change leadership, "is nothing to do with (Hayward's) business judgment, it's what is politically convenient," he said. -By James Herron, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 (0)20 7842 9317; james.herron@dowjones.com (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 27, 2010 03:13 ET (07:13 GMT)