Embattled BP CEO Tony Hayward defied expectations and didn’t resign Monday. Instead, he’s being shuffled off to Russia, where he will direct BP’s role in TNK-BP, a joint venture considered one of BP’s plum projects . After running the careless business that started the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico 2010, and then leading a bungling response to the disaster, Hayward may appear to be getting away. But some senators who think he had a hand in a BP-Libya oil deal that led to the release of a convicted terrorist want to grill him before he flies to Moscow.
Tony Hayward’s Russian gig has an ironic twist
BP boots Tony Hayward from the corner office in October. The Associated Press reports that Robert Dudley is his likely replacement. Hayward was changed 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 didn’t last at TNK-BP—will 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 U.S. political establishment. The Washington Post reports that analysts consider the TNK-BP venture one of BP’s crown jewels, accounting for a quarter of BP production. But it is a problematic one, as proven by Robert Dudley, Hayward’s likely successor as BP CEO. After getting into a dispute with Russian shareholders, Dudley was forced to leave the country.
Did Hayward negotiate to release a terrorist in exchange for oil?
Americas Senators Bob Menendez and Kirsten Gillibrand want to haul Tony Hayward before Congress, perhaps though he is stepping down. The senators will hold a hearing July 29 on the release of the Lockerbie bomber and the New York Observer reports that they want to ask Hayward a few questions. The senators are pushing British officials for weeks to conduct a full investigation of the links between a BP-Libya oil deal and also the release of Lockerbie bomber Abdul Baset al-Megrahi. Menendez said he believed Hayward was in the middle of negotiations with the Libyans during the oil deal.
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