(Adds details, quotes, background)
MOSCOW, Oct 2 (Reuters) - BP Chief Executive Officer
Bob Dudley said on Wednesday he plans to step down next year
following a tumultuous decade at the helm of the oil and gas
company.
Dudley, who turned 64 last month, said he would retire at 65
but that no decision on the timing of this move had been taken
by BP's board.
Reuters reported on Monday that Dudley was drawing up plans
to leave the company next year, which were discussed at BP's
board meeting in the United States last week.
"I've said a long time, at the age of around 65 I would"
step down, Dudley told reporters at an energy conference in
Moscow.
No successor has been named yet, sources close to the
company told Reuters.
Dudley became chief executive after his predecessor Tony
Hayward stepped down in the wake of the April 2010 Deepwater
Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, that killed 11 rig
workers and caused the largest oil spill in U.S. history.
He has since led BP through near-bankruptcy and an oil price
collapse to being one of the fastest-growing oil companies. He
has also overseen its efforts to address growing investor
pressure to tackle climate change.
(Reporting by Dmitry Zhdannikov, Vladimir Soldatkin
Writing by Olzhas Auyezov and Ron Bousso; editing by David Evans
and Bernadette Baum)
BP (BP.)