Following a meeting in London to decide his fate, Tony Hayward was expected to resign Monday. He’s being sent to Siberia instead, where he will work at TNK-BP, a joint venture with Russian oil barons that is one of BP’s most lucrative deals . After running the careless company that began the oil spill within the Gulf of Mexico 2010, and then leading a bungling response to the disaster, Hayward may seem to be getting away. But before he starts his new job, some senators want to ask him about a BP-Libya oil deal that stipulated the release of a convicted terrorist.
Tony Hayward’s Russia assignment is ironic
BP boots Tony Hayward from the corner office in October. The Associated Press reports that Robert Dudley is his likely replacement. Hayward was exchanged by Dudley as BP’s point man for the oil spill response. Hayward will serve on the board of BP’s Russian venture TNK-BP. Ironically, Dudley once headed TNK-BP and had to flee from Russia in 2008 after he ran afoul of authorities there.
Dudley’s TNK-BP run a lesson for Hayward?
Tony Hayward’s new post at BP’s 50-50 joint venture with Russian oligarchs suggests that his business still thinks more of him than most Americans and also the Americas political establishment. Accounting for 25 percent of its total production, the Washington Post reports that the TNK-BP venture is one of BP’s crown jewels. But Robert Dudley’s experience proves the post can be a headache. Russian shareholders forced Dudley to flee the country for the sake of the deal.
Did Tony Hayward make the BP-Libya oil deal?
Tony Hayward may be changing addresses, but senators Bob Menendez and Kirsten Gillibrand won’t give up calling him before Congress. The New York Observer reports the senators could be holding a July 29 hearing into the release of the Lockerbie bomber and told the press they want to hear from Hayward. The British government has been pressured for weeks by the two senators to start investigating whether a BP-Libya oil deal is related to the release of Lockerbie bomber Abdul Baset al-Megrahi. Menendez said he believed Hayward was within the middle of negotiations with the Libyans during the oil deal.
Additional reading
nydailynews.com/
nytimes.com
observer.com
