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Per NBC's foreign desk: BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg told Sky News in Britain that, at some time soon, CEO Tony Hayward will return to the U.K. and hand over day-to-day operational control for BP's salvage operation in the Gulf.
Svanberg told Sky News business correspondent Jeff Randall: "[Hayward] is now handing over the operation to Bob Dudley."
Mr. Dudley is the managing director of the oil giant.
Mr. Svanberg also told Randall that comments by Mr. Hayward have had detrimental effects as the company seeks to control the fallout from the disaster.
"It is clear Tony has made remarks that have upset people," Mr. Svanberg said.
Mr. Svanberg admitted that the disaster is turning from an industrial accident into a much broader concern and he will now expand his own involvement.
"This has now turned into a reputation matter, financial, and political and that is why you will now see more of me," Mr. Svanberg.
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CEO Hayward was never in control of this mess. Turning control over to Bob Dudley is kinda like closing the barn door after the horses are already gone. And as for seeing more of Chairman Svanberg, that too may be a mistake. Due to his language limitations he shouldn't talk to "Small People".
What all this says to me is that there are some serious internal struggles happening inside BP. And there may be more shake-ups to follow.
You know, Ron, there is an old joke that Brits and Americans are two peoples divided by a common language.
Several years ago, some dear friends of mine 'crossed the pond' after their retirement. One of the first places they wanted to see was the Metropolitan Museum, so they went on the first Sunday of their visit.
When they got back, they were clearly perturbed. I asked what was wrong, and they told me that upon entering, the first thing they noticed was a sign that said 'no strollers on Sunday'; at that point, I was confused. After a few more questions, I understood enough to describe for them what was meant by a stroller. I'll never forget my friend's response: "Oh", she said. "We thought it meant that we had to nip along smartly.
The point is, cut the guy some slack. His meaning was quite different than your understanding.
No Jo: I've travelled to England twice and did notice some "funny" idioms. They call the earser on the end of a pencil a "rubber", which has a different meaning to us. Ok, in fairness, I'll cut the guy some slack.
BTW: I did see that someone is floating your guy Mitch for Pres. At best Romney may pick him for a V-P. Governing by the numbers won't get it done. Daniels has about as much charisma as a fence post. He is learning to smile when he shakes your hand.
I meant to add this the other day. I also think that the guy should get some slack. Scandinavian languages have a lot fewer words than English does, actually only about half the number. It means that English has words for expressing a vast degree of nuance where other languages depend more on context. As a result, lots of English words or phrases would translate to the Swedish word for 'small'. Heck, there is a wide variation on the way people who are primarily English speakers use the language on this blog alone.
I assume that he meant the 'average person.' The implication of that is that he and his cronies are somehow 'special' and there was a definite tinge of noblesse oblige to his statement.
I still find it slightly insulting that a guy whose raison d'etre is to chair a company that essentially comes up with ways of sucking large deposits of goop from the ground or under the water is any more special than a guy who runs a shrimp boat. I don't care how much money you make. Unless your position is handed down from God, the only thing that differentiates you from the fisherman is your cash flow. And cash flow does not = nobility.
In other words, from one of the small people, until you and your company pay for the damage your stupidity and impatience and greed have caused, you get no slack from me.
"Mr. Svanberg admitted that the disaster is turning from an industrial accident into a much broader concern and he will now expand his own involvement.
"This has now turned into a reputation matter, financial, and political and that is why you will now see more of me," Mr. Svanberg."
Oh, so it was just an industrial accident before, but now it's something REALLY important, like "a reputation matter"?
I think I'm already starting to miss Tony Hayward, if that's possible.
Hi JoAnne: Point well made. I'm wondering if BP evaluated Tony's performance in the House and decided...No so Good. Time for a change. Mr. Svanberg may be tougher, but he knows BP has a history of disasters and he doesn't want to go there.
Well, the news just got worse for Obama.
In a story the AP ran on Monday, it was related that, on the topic of the second relief well, Hayward made the decision to allow it to appear that they had caved in to Obama's demands. They had always planned to drill two relief wells, but Hayward thought it best to give Obama a political point.
I believe that this $20billion slush fund was the straw that broke the camel's back, along with Hayward's caving in to the 'demand' that BP suspend dividends-thus punishing elderly pensioners for this accident.
Obama had absolutely no legal authority to do either. In fact, if the BP executives had rejected his demands and told Obama to go ahead and sue-they would have been off the hook. They have already exceeded the $75million in costs for which they are liable. (And, no, congress could not have simply changed the law. That would be unconstitutional.)
Now, Obama knew he was safe in making these demands, because he had Hayward in his pocket. Wonder what things will look like going forward, now that he has cost his best buddy in this affair his job.
Now that's some kind of spin the repubs need to latch onto, NO Jo: First, he 'shakes down' a company, and now he adds one more name to the long list of 'unemployed'. Hey, Hannity- y' catching all this??
Who cares who Obama had in his pocket as long as Obama used those he had in his pocket to get BP to anti-up to pay for this oil spill. That's what you call Chicago style politics, and that is what you will see surfacing from the not-so-nice Obama side when you screw with him or the American people. You have not seen anything yet no joe. Wait until Obama's second term. You might want to duck.
no joe – Hayward did NOT loose his job … he is returning to the home office to do his primary function as CEO. Hayward did not give in to the $20 billion fund it was the Chairman of the Board. And the administration knew, and said, they could not force BP to put the money into the fund.
Oh Lord, she's off her meds again. Your fantasies are getting worse, Do you hear voices, it must be noisy in that gap between your ears.
CA-clearly, you need to leave temple Obama a little more often.
BP said, over and over, that they were fully committed to cleaning this up.
It has been two months. If they had any plans to rely on the existing law that limits their liability to $75million, they wuld have done so by now.
This is more Obama smoke and mirrors. Thing is, it no longer works with the majority.
Wait until 2012-but stock up on your drink of choice. You're going to need it.
njnb, I must ask two questions. First, do you really think that BP was going to say anything other than that they were fully committed to cleaning this up? Second, why do you choose to accept BP's words as proof and guarantee of future performance when you are much more likely to accuse others of 'all words, no action?' It seems to me that getting BP to put their money where their mouth is now was the prudent thing to do.
No jo If a bullfrog had wings he wouldn't bump his butt so much. Rather than set around waiting to see if B.P. decides to pay off I'd rather have a dollar or two of thier money in the bank to make sure they pay off.
no joe:
Who cares if BP already had plans to pay out billions for the clean-up. Come 2012 as you note two words or phrases will be spoken at the same time and in the same breadth, "Obama and 20 billion dollar relief fund". Fact is no joe you need to get out of the right wing oil pit and come join me half way between it and the Obama temple. We need not worship Obama but you may just learn something about how it is better to look pro-active, even if that appearnace is preplanned, than it does to look re-active (most often without any planning at all) like you and those on the right continue to exhbit.
no joe, Obama with 52% to 55% of the vote in 2012. Write that down.
And another thing while B.P might could win the case of raising the cap limit on expenditures due to unconstitutionality I'm fairly sure that the presence of the Attorney General with the results of their investigation that showed that some of the Executives could be placed under arrest for negligent homicide and some of it could be used for a class action suit for damages both of which have no liability caps just might have made old Sven opt for the lesser of two evils.
You make me laugh! They murdered 11 American taxpayers in all this. You think the Most Powerful Man In the World, the American President impotent? Foolish of you. All the President need to is declare this the Negligent Homicide case it is and have the Executives arrested on those very real charges. I AM ONE THAT DEMANDS THIS! M U D E R E R S should be brought to justice.
This was no accident. Obama at all times, until this is resolved, declare this a Matterof National Security and the game is over for that International Company and the representatives. I could make a case for a terrorism case. Just the sheer number of lives destroyed along with the deaths. Bet I could sell it to the American People.
You wanna bet?
You go further and intimate that bp is truthful and honest. Have you been in comma or something similar? Did you not watch lie after lie on how much oil was being released? Have you not paid attentnion to the fact these liars knew that facility was in dangerously serious condition and should have been shut down? Have you not witnessed the revelation of lie after lie after lie told by BP?
If I could ban from these forums, you'd be banned for lacking functioning brain cells.
Hayward should be sacked.
That's what Hayward gets for making a group of ignorant, arrogant, money-grabbing, pompous @!$%#s on Capitol Hill look like what they are. At least he didn't bend over for the White House like Stupak did on healthcare. He really made them look the Keystone Congressmen (and women) falling off of the moving vehicle on a curve. Splendid job Tony! I'd tell you to take a bow, but that's a dangerous position for anyone who stands up to the Osama socialist regime, unless you are Stupak, a typical Washington "thank you sir, may I have another", kind of guy. Too bad Carl lacks the balls to stand by you. Note to Carl: You should have stood by your man! You will never, ever gain control of the fallout from this disaster because Osama will never let up until BP and the Gulf Coast are dead and he can bill the working, legal, American citizens for everything. Now there is change you can count on!
You racist CREEP!
Maybe soon the poor baby will get his life back.
I'm not surprised they shut Hayward down. He's an idiot. And yet - our progressive media launched a negative attack campaign against the president because he would not meet with Hayward. Now we have all found out what the president knew all along. Hayward wasn't running ANYTHING except his mouth. His own company has shut him down, but this is the man the country was angry that Obama didn't meet with. Or so the media said. I'm still looking for that poll that says 52% of the country disapproves of the way the president handled/is handling the oil spill. I'm afraid that on this specific subject, MSNBC, MSN, NBC were ALL bashing the president. For a minute there, I thought I was on FOX.
The wingnuts just don't get it. The polls show that people disapprove of President Obama's handling of the Gulf blowout because they think he's been TOO SOFT on BP. Successfully pressuring BP to compensate the victims of its malfeasance is certainly not going to hurt the public perception of his handling of the crisis. If that's "Chicago-style politics" then we need more of it from Obama.
And Republican attacks on the escrow fund only makes them look like what they are: tools of the corporate power structures who don't give a d@mn about the American people except when they need their votes.
Or just... you know... tools. Period.
I continue to wonder why B.P. on any managerial level continues to keep CEO's and such like front and center in this response effort. There are folks in the oil industry that have specialized in capping and handling mishapes for a long time.They used them to take care of the Iraqi wells that Saddam blew up at the end of the first Gulf war, when the North rig collapsed off Scotland and on and on. I don't see any evidence here where these folks services have been secured or their imput even solicited. Simply put CEO's don't plug oil wells profesional oil men and engineers etc do. Either they have a problem that every body won't touch or they just are simply bound and determined to drive themselves over a cliff
This really is turning into one big OilBama mess mmmmmmmm mmmmm mmmm Barack Petroleum had such a promising future with Al Gore the Chicago Climate Exchange scam oh well should have listened to Halliburton instead of letting your "hubris" get out of hand. Good Luck to the people of the gulf trying to get anything out of these con artist.
You make it way too easy Dave... Good luck to the people of the Gulf trying to get anything? What do you think they would have gotten if Obama had not gotten BP to agree to the $20 Billion fund? I venture to guess they would have gotten the same thing the people of Alaska got from Exxon. The shaft after 20 years.
You can characterize our President any way your right wing sensibilities (or lack thereof) require of you. In the meantime, those that are affected and desperate to start receiving financial aid will thank Obama for having the courage to do what was right and not simply stomp his feet and pout like Barton and Agent Orange.
Dave, Tn - take the limpwristed conservative crybaby pacifier out of your mouth before you crybaby your Greta Right Lies. Don't extract your foot from your mouth and please insert your gun pacifier then shoot foot! Take your Tea Bagging Drag Queen Beckerhead paranoid delusions back to NewsWhine at Fox and Freaks, First Read is for intelligent adults.
Now that's just plain ugly and unnecessary. If all you have is infantile rants, please keep them to yourself. This is not a game.
The minority are trying to spread their hatred and lies. It's so weird that they spend so much time on Democratic web sites, trying to stir us all up with their ugliness. Maybe we Democrats should crash FOX News web site and try to spread truth, logic, and peace onto them - wouldn't that simply disgust the minority??? What a shame.
Wow is BP Oil dense or what? Going to replace Wayward Hayward with some clown named Dudley Do Wrong? Man what the heck don't these "Big People" ever think? Ofcourse not they're just so wrapped up in their little rich and greedy bubble that they are completely out of whack with what real people think. I mean what could possibly go wrong replacing Tony Baloney Wayward Hayward with Dudley Do Wrong? Don't they see how this clown's name alone is going to give BP Oil's millions of critics another way to trash these corrupt self-serving morons?
What Could Possibly Go Wrong? Dudley Do Wrong!
What ho?! Love that demure photograph ... SO British, stiff upper lip and all. Come to think of it, all this lacks of being good British television is a lively sex scandal involving a prime minister, an oil executive, and someone wearing feathers. Or any two out of those three. Or is that still coming? Or was that a very bad choice of words?
Well it looks like Tiny Tony Hayward got his wish... and got his LIFE back!
Absolutely PATHETIC!
LoL Feisty ... You mean his life as an exotic dancer? Picture him in ostrich feathers, if you will. In fact, I think he and Rudy Two Shoes would make an excellent act.
Mediamatters has an interesting article about how the media scarcely criticized Poppy Bush at all for doing absolutely nothing during the Exxon Valdez disaster:
http://mediamatters.org/blog/201006170007
The media has been working hard to make the oil blowout Obama's fault entirely when the truth is that it was caused by BP and enabled by 8 years of Bush/Cheney's culture of corruption in federal agencies.
BTW: The NY Times has an unctuous article calling Anderson Cooper on Fox News Lite the "voice of the Gulf." Cooper is really the voice of Republican spin.
"relieved" to "get back to his life" and go yachting! Maybe he could have taken a couple of the Gulf Coast people along with them, let them get away from it too.