Mr Dudley currently runs the recently-established unit responsible for clean-up operations and compensation programs in the Gulf of Mexico. He will replace Mr Hayward on October 1, 2010.
On his appointment, Mr Dudley will be based in London and will hand over his present duties in the US to Lamar McKay, chairman and president of BP America. Mr Hayward will remain on the BP board until November 30, 2010. BP also plans to nominate him as a non-executive director of TNK-BP.
Carl-Henric Svanberg, chairman of BP, said: “We are highly fortunate to have a successor of the calibre of Bob Dudley who has spent his working life in the oil industry both in the US and overseas and has proved himself a robust operator in the toughest circumstances.”
Mr Dudley joined BP from Amoco after the merger of the two companies in 1998. He was president and CEO of BP’s Russian joint venture, TNK-BP, until 2008.
