Not a moment too soon: BP’s Tony Heyward pushed aside

Apparently BP PLC finally had enough of CEO Tony Heyward’s aloofness and foot-in-mouth propensity. The company late this week announced that he is being replaced as point man on the Deepwater Horizon crisis.

Robert Dudley, an American who has been with the company for a decade, will head up a new unit that will focus on the spill.

BP said that Heyward is still the CEO and remains in charge of the company’s operations, though one industry analyst said he is on “thin ice.”

Heyward has made a series of gaffes as BP’s front man including the infamous “I’d like to get my life back” comment on May 31. Early on, he seemed to relish his celebrity status by quoting Churchill and granting numerous interviews.

But the weeks of being a proverbial human punching bag appeared to have taken their toll on Heyward. At the outset, he was quick to point the finger of blame on rig owner Transocean. Thursday, he stonewalled a congressional committee by claiming ignorance regarding alleged reckless company procedures responsible for the platform explosion on April 20.

Source: New York Times