BP Oil Spill Update July 27: CEO Tony Hayward Replaced

A Greenpeace activist puts up a banner as they block off a British Petroleum fuel station in protest as the BP board announce their annual results, in London, Tuesday, July 27, 2010. BP is jettisoning CEO Tony Hayward, whose verbal blunders made the oil giant's image even worse as it struggled to contain the Gulf oil spill, and will assign him to a key job in Russia, a person familiar with the matter said Monday.(AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

GOODBYE HAYWARD

Looks like BP CEO Tony Hayward finally got his life back.

BP announced Tuesday that Hayward will be replaced by American Robert Dudley come October. The company also reported a record quarterly loss–$17 billion–and put aside $32.2 billion to pay for the Gulf spill.

Dudley will be BP’s first non-British CEO.

Hayward will be leaving with $1.6 billion in salary as a parting gift from BP, since he is being replaced without one year’s notice and a recommendation for a Russian venture with BP.

THE LATEST ON MICHIGAN OIL SPILL

THE FINAL FIX

The so-called “static kill” — in which mud and cement are pumped into the top of the well — should start Aug. 2. Because the well is now capped, that effort will be more controlled than a previous failed effort, a “top kill” in which mud was shot into the still-spewing well. A relief well is nearly complete for the final stage, a “bottom kill” in which mud and cement are pumped in from deep underground. Work could begin Aug. 7 and could take days or weeks, depending on how well the static kill works.

With AP