Dudley took unlikely path to be BP's chief
Bob Dudley's sudden rise to the top at BP PLC shows how the Gulf oil spill has dramatically changed the fortunes of people from local fishermen to corporate executives.
Seen as an unlikely candidate just a few months ago, Dudley is set to become the first American to lead the oil giant in its century-long history. Dudley will become CEO on Oct. 1 and try to salvage the company's reputation and investments in the United States.
Dudley's standing within BP and along the Gulf Coast has risen since he took over response to the oil spill in June from current CEO Tony Hayward, who will be reassigned to Russia.
Though his words weren't all that different, Dudley delivered BP's message — don't worry, we're going to pay for all this — in a calm manner without Hayward's public impatience and occasional whininess. And serendipity was on Dudley's side: He was in charge when they finally capped the spewing well, shutting off the flow of oil until a relief well can finish the job.
BP is the largest producer of oil and gas in the U.S., home to 40 percent of the company's assets and responsible for one-third of its worldwide oil and gas reserves. It has huge interests in Alaska and the Gulf, with vast tracts yet to be developed.
BP could lose access to those resources. The U.S. Congress is considering a proposal to block the awarding of any new offshore oil and gas leases to companies with bad safety records. BP would be targeted, the way the legislation is written. Also, BP's fuel contracts with the military, worth $2.2 billion last year, could be in jeopardy.
If BP is going to survive and grow, it must protect those assets, said Amy Myers Jaffe, an oil industry scholar at Houston's Rice University.
Today, the company said it plans to tell analysts it will sell assets for up to $30 billion during the next 18 months.
In early April, nobody thought BP would soon need a new CEO. Under Hayward, the company was earning more than $20 billion a year until lower oil prices reduced earnings in 2009 to $16.6 billion. But today, BP reported a record loss of $17 billion for the second quarter.
Dudley, 54, was a longtime executive with Amoco before BP bought that company in 1998. He had run BP's joint venture in Russia, then turned into a globe-trotting Mr. Fix-it for his bosses in London. It was that last role that landed him back along the Gulf, near where he grew up in Mississippi, after the April rig explosion that killed 11 men and spawned the oil gusher.
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