Global General

Outgoing BP CEO is questioned

By David Stringer (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-09-16 09:54

A frame grab shows outgoing BP Chief Executive Officer Tony Hayward speaking to the Commons Energy and Climate Change Select Committee in London September 15, 2010. [Photo/Agencies]

LONDON - Outgoing BP CEO Tony Hayward will come under scrutiny from British lawmakers on Wednesday over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, months after he offered few explanations for the accident at a testy hearing in Washington.

Hayward is scheduled to give evidence to a British parliamentary committee studying the fallout of the spill and the future of deep water drilling.

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The British executive, who will be replaced by new chief executive Bob Dudley, who is an American, on Oct 1, will appear alongside BP's head of safety Mark Bly, author of the company's internal report of the probe into the spill in Gulf of Mexico.

Hayward endured an onslaught of criticism in June at a US Congress appearance in Washington after he insisted he had little knowledge of decisions that contributed to the explosion at the Macondo well on April 20, which killed 11 workers and triggered the massive oil spill.

"You're kicking the can down the road and acting as if you had nothing to do with this company and nothing to do with the decisions," committee chairman representative Henry Waxman, told Hayward at the session.

Hayward repeatedly told the House Energy and Commerce Committee he could not provide detailed explanations. "I'm not stonewalling. I simply was not involved in the decision-making process," he said.

In July, Hayward confirmed he would stand down as BP's CEO to be replaced by Dudley.

British legislators will question Hayward on the spill, but Tim Yeo - a Conservative Party lawmaker and committee chairman - said his panel would not adopt the confrontational tone seen in Washington.

"We would like him to be forthcoming, but we recognize there are some constraints - some legal constraints - that he faces," said Yeo, a former environment minister.

His panel is considering whether additional regulation is needed in Britain.

Associated Press