London, United Kingdom - July 27, 2010, London, United Kingdom - BP has announced that Robert Dudley has been named chief executive officer, replacing Tony Hayward, effective October 1.
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Mr. Dudley is a member of the BP board of directors and a member of the BP executive management team.
Mr. Dudley joined Amoco Corporation in 1979, for whom he worked until its merger with BP in 1998. In his early career he held a variety of engineering and commercial posts in the US and UK. From 1987 he worked on the negotiation and development of projects in the South China Sea, following which he was involved in the restructuring of oil and gas research and development activities in the US.
Between 1994 and 1997 Mr. Dudley was based in Moscow working on corporate development for both upstream and downstream businesses in Russia. In 1997 he became general manager for strategy for Amoco and following the Amoco merger was appointed to a similar role in BP in 1999.
From 1999 to 2000 Mr. Dudley was appointed executive assistant to the group chief executive officer, following which he was group vice president for BP’s renewables and alternative energy activities, with responsibilities for BP’s global solar business and wind and hydrogen activities. He then took up the role of group vice president responsible for BP’s upstream businesses in Russia, the Caspian Region, Angola, Algeria and Egypt.
In 2003, following the formation of TNK-BP – a joint venture between BP and Russian partners – Mr. Dudley assumed the role of president and chief executive officer until December 2008. He was appointed an executive director of the BP board on 6 April 2009 and is an executive vice president and a member of the executive management team.
Mr. Dudley is a member of the Board of Fellows of the Thunderbird School of Global Management and a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers.
Mr. Dudley has a degree in Chemical Engineering (University of Illinois, USA), MIM from Thunderbird School of Global Management (USA) and an MBA from SMU (USA).
Mr. Hayward joined BP in 1982 and began his career as a rig geologist in the North Sea. Following a series of technical and commercial roles in Europe, Asia and South America, he returned to London in 1997 as member of the Upstream Executive Committee.
Mr. Hayward became Group Treasurer in 2000, Chief Executive for BP's upstream activities and member of the Main Board of BP in 2003. In May 2007, he was appointed Group Chief Executive of BP p.l.c.
Mr. Hayward is a Member of the Business Council of Britain, a Member of Tsinghua Advisory Board, a Member of MIT Energy Advisory Board, Chair of GLOBE CEO Forum for Climate Change and a Trustee of the Emirates Foundation.
Mr. Hayward is a Companion of the Chartered Management Institute and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. ■