Company set aside $32.2 billion for costs related to oil spill.
A Greenpeace activist puts up a banner as protesters block off a British Petroleum fuel station as the BP board announces annual results Tuesday in London. BP is jettisoning CEO Tony Hayward, whose verbal blunders made the oil giant's image even worse as it struggled to contain the Gulf oil spill, and will assign him to a key job in Russia, a person familiar with the matter said Monday.From The New York Times:
LONDON — BP named Robert Dudley as its next chief executive Tuesday and reported a record $17 billion loss in the second quarter as the company set aside billions of dollars to deal with the aftermath of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
BP set aside $32.2 billion for costs related to the spill, including $20 billion for an escrow fund announced earlier. To help cover the costs, the company plans to sell assets worth $30 billion over the next 18 months. The sales would leave BP with a smaller exploration and production operation, it said.
» Read the full story: BP posts $17 billion loss; confirms Hayward departure [The New York Times]
» Who is Bob Dudley? [CNN]
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