BP oil spill: Tony Hayward set to step down, Russian official claims

Source: the guardian

Russia's top energy official said he expected BP chief executive Tony Hayward to step down soon, ahead of a meeting with him in Moscow later today.

"We know that Tony Hayward is leaving his position and he will introduce his successor," Igor Sechin told reporters ahead of his meeting with the embattled BP boss. Sechin, Russia's deputy prime minister and the chairman of the country's biggest oil company Rosneft, was responding to a question about what would be discussed at the meeting.

BP denied that Hayward was close to resigning. "Tony Hayward remains the chief executive of BP. There are no plans for him to resign," a spokeswoman said.

The news further boosted the shares, already up this morning on hopes that the oil giant will be able to plug the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico earlier than thought, to 311.9p, a gain of 7.3p or 2.4%. On Friday the shares crashed to a 14-year low of 304p, down over 6%. More than £60bn has been wiped off the company's market value since the rig explosion on 20 April.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/28/bp-oil-spill-bill-100m-day

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"BP says Hayward remains CEO, storm Alex looms

(Reuters) - BP was forced to defend its chief executive on Monday after Russia's deputy PM said he expected Tony Hayward to resign soon, while a tropical storm threatened oil spill cleanup efforts in the Gulf of Mexico."

reuters, http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65O5TA20100628

Give him a shovel, some rubber boots, and NO respirator and make him work 12 hours a day shoveling the crap on the beaches that came from his "leak"! If the well is finally plugged then let him leave the company, and "then" put him in jail until his trial with NO BAIL! Of course that's only if the U.S. charges him with anything!

Something lost in translation apparently.

Before the meeting, Mr Sechin had told reporters that Mr Hayward was about to resign. The claim was quickly and categorically denied by BP.

"The issue of Hayward's resignation was not discussed," a spokesperson for Mr Sechin said.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/10432930.stm

He'll have ride a golden parachute all the way down to his yacht.

We're being encouraged to think of Haward as a one-off, a bad apple. The truth is, the predator class is full of Tony Haywards, and if he steps down, there will be another sociopath with a well thumbed copy of Atlas Shrugged in their back pocket to take his place.