Steffy: Can Dudley move BP beyond its past?

By LOREN STEFFY Copyright 2010 Houston Chronicle

July 27, 2010, 10:23PM

Associated Press

Outgoing CEO Tony Hayward, left, Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg, center, and incoming CEO Bob Dudley are on the hot seat as BP grapples with its future.

For years, the company once known as British Petroleum vowed to move "beyond petroleum." Now, it's moving beyond British.

By naming American Bob Dudley as the new CEO Tuesday, BP's board has shifted the company's focus squarely on America, which remains the company's best hope and its biggest failure.

Dudley ran BP's nettlesome joint venture in Russia, and he was considered for the CEO job three years ago. At the time, BP's board, which once was required to have a certain number of directors who were British subjects, stuck with tradition and chose Tony Hayward instead.

Now, the board appears to have embraced the opposite philosophy: Only an American can save the company.

Two previous British CEOs, John Browne and Hayward, failed to manage the culture of BP's U.S. operations with fatal consequences.

Dudley's appointment underscores the cultural quagmire in which BP now finds itself. While he represents a change from BP tradition, it's not clear he represents the profound reform the company needs.

for the rest of the story, follow this link...http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/steffy/7127659.html

...and for fun... the Tony Hayward greatest gaffes slide show....

http://blogs.chron.com/lorensteffy/2010/07/hayward_shares.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+houstonchronicle%2Florensteffy+%28Loren+Steffy%29