Somber BP CEO Defends Record, Acknowledges Criticism

By James Herron Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES LONDON (Dow Jones)--BP PLC (BP) Chief Executive Tony Hayward--who became the reviled public face of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill--defended his response to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill Tuesday but acknowledged that it was time to step down "for the good of BP." Hayward, 54, displayed no bitterness at the premature end to his 28-year career at BP, saying that his resignation is the only way the company he led for three years has any chance of restoring its reputation and continuing to operate in the U.S. "Today is a very sad day for me," Hayward told reporters in a conference call. "I've spent my entire professional career at BP. I love the company and everything it stands for." However, Hayward added, "for the good of BP, and particularly the good of BP in the U.S., it's the right thing to do for me to step down." Hayward's tone was somber, but there was some relief evident in his voice. For three months he has been vilified in the U.S.--described as "The Bumbler From BP", facing personal attacks from President Barack Obama himself and briefly becoming the most hated man in America. His life was scrutinized. He faced a mauling before Congress; a weekend yachting trip was met with outrage; his family received threats at their home in the U.K.; and a photo of him stood next to a woman in a Houston bar prompted insinuations about his personal life. This ill feeling was due in large part to the scale of the initial tragedy and BP's repeated failure to stop the oil leak that fouled the Gulf of Mexico. However, Hayward also suffered several self-inflicted wounds stemming from ill-advised statements to the media. His aside in a television interview that "I would like my life back" caused understandable outrage, not least among the families of the eleven men who were killed in the explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon rig that triggered the oil spill. Hayward was also criticized for early attempts to deflect blame for that explosion onto rig owner Transocean Ltd. (RIG) and his description of the environmental impact of the spill as "very, very modest". "I became, as the face of BP, the lightning rod for very understandable anger and frustration across a very broad cross section of U.S. public," Hayward said. "I think that was an inevitable consequence of leading the response." "Whether we dealt with the politics appropriately all the way through, I'll leave others to judge," Hayward added. Hayward was less equivocal about his handling of the operational side of the spill. "We mounted the largest response to an environmental incident and industrial accident the world has ever seen. There are 45,000 people involved in that response, thousands of ships and an unprecedented subsea intervention," he said. "The fact is we have dealt with it. We have stopped the well flowing, we are going to clean up the oil spill, we have put in place a $20 billion fund for claims," he said. "The commitment went way beyond anything anyone could have reasonably expected from a private company." Hayward will leave BP on October 1 and become a non-executive director of TNK-BP, the company's joint venture with a group of Russian billionaires. This can hardly be described as banishment to Siberia, or a rest cure. Aside from its operations in the U.S., TNK-BP is the BP's single most important asset and has a troubled history of its own. TNK-BP repeatedly made headlines two years ago during a very public spat over control of the venture between the Russian billionaires and its then-CEO, Robert Dudley. -By James Herron, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 (0)20 7842 9317; james.herron@dowjones.com (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 27, 2010 09:39 ET (13:39 GMT)