BP's Bob Dudley
On Wednesday, incoming BP chief-executive, Bob Dudley, announced a major changes he will be initiating as a result of the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster. As a major part of restructuring the company, he plans to establish a formidable safety division.
Dudley’s new job will start in two days. He characterized the major reorganization as the “first and most urgent” company action. BP faces an formidable challenge to restore its reputation following the Gulf of Mexico catastrophe.
BP plans to create a safety division that will have sweeping powers in overseeing and auditing the company’s global operations. In addition, it will reorganized the upstream division by establishing three separate units to handle exploration, development and production.
Andy Inglis, the current executive in charge of exploration and production, will depart BP. Inglis the incumbent of the position in April when the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded, creating the immense oil leak that resulted in a collapse of BP stock.
Meanwhile, the troubled company will initiate a separate examination of its approach to motivating its staff to improve risk management and safety issues. It will also reevaluate procedures for monitoring the performance of third-party contractors.
“These are the first and most urgent steps in a programme I am putting in place to rebuild trust in BP — the trust of our customers, of governments, of our employees and of the world at large,” Dudley stated.
On Friday, Dudley will replace former BP chief Tony Hayward, who resigned two months ago after he was broadly criticized about his managing the drilling rig disaster that prompted an environmental disaster and sent the group’s shares into a tailspin..
According to company sources, the oil spill catastrophe has thus-far cost 9.5 billion dollars with the total bill possibly soaring to over 32 billion dollars.
