BP's Dudley, Hayward To Visit Russia, Meet Officials, Partners

MOSCOW (Dow Jones)--BP PLC's (BP.LN) new chief executive designate Robert Dudley and outgoing incumbent Tony Hayward will travel to Russia to meet with government officials and BP's business partners in Russia, a company spokesman said Monday. The date of the visit will be announced later, said spokesman Vladimir Buyanov. Hayward, who already served on the board of BP Russian joint venture TNK-BP from 2003 to 2007, will be nominated again for that board as he's replaced by Dudley at the helm of BP Oct. 1. Hayward in the past regularly met with Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, the powerful official who overseas Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's energy policy, and Hayward has a good working relationship with the energy czar, the spokesman said. "He was coming regularly, coming to Moscow every two or three months," Buyanov said. He declined to comment on Hayward's possible compensation. -By William Mauldin, Dow Jones Newswires; +7 495 232-9192, william.mauldin@dowjones.com (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 27, 2010 08:15 ET (12:15 GMT)