Tony Hayward

Tony Hayward is the former Chief Executive of BP (from 2007 to 2010), the oil and energy company. He succeeded John Browne (Lord Browne of Madingley) on May 1, 2007. He is presently the CEO of Genel Energy.

Hayward has recently come under criticism following the Deepwater Horizon oil catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico. Initially, Hayward told Sky News in an interview that the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico will have only a "very, very modest" environmental impact. He also told the Financial Times that the effort to contain the oil has been "very successful" and "very little" oil has gotten away. Similarly, he also quoted as saying "The Gulf of Mexico is a very big ocean. The amount of volume of oil and dispersant we are putting into it is tiny in relation to the total water volume." On Sunday, May 30th, 2010, Hayward again made headlines with the preposterous statement that there are no underwater plumes of oil in the Gulf of Mexico, directly contradicting what several scientists confirmed.

However, Hayward was forced to admit that BP was not prepared for the deep-water spill and the oil company was using the same outdated tactics to control the spill that they used 31 years ago. Id. His comments pertaining to the oil plumes were made almost simultaneously with a New York Times article reporting several scientists finding giant plumes of oil underwater.

BP is now releasing a new apology campaign featuring Tony Hayward. However, PR experts are doubtful whether this attempt to improve their image will be successful. As Chris Gidez, a former oil company's PR man, said, "the best PR and advertising in the world cannot compete with that live video stream of that oil coming out of the bottom of the sea." Id.

Affiliations

 * Senior Independent Director at Glencore International plc and is a member of the European advisory board of AEA

Sourcewatch resources

 * What BP Doesn't Want You to See, PRWatch
 * BP Ramps Up its Political Influence, PRWatch