Tony Hayward - Replacement of Lord Browne

Replacement of Lord Browne

In light of safety and resultant production issues in Alaska and the report on the explosion at the Texas City refinery, Peter Sutherland, BP's non-executive chairman, accelerated the process for replacing Lord Browne, bringing the timetable forward from end-2008 (when Browne would be 60, and nominally forced to retire under BP's rules) to July 2007. Hayward, having been termed CEO designate by both internal and media commentators, came to the fore amid the competition, including Robert Dudley, chief executive of TNK-BP, the company's Russian joint venture, and John Manzoni, head of refining and marketing.

On 18 December 2006, in the run-up to replace Lord Browne as Chief Executive of BP Group, the Financial Times reported that Hayward had criticised BP's management at an internal management meeting, in the wake of a blast at the firm's Texas City refinery that killed 15 people and injured more than 170 others. Hayward made the comments at a town hall meeting in Houston: "We have a leadership style that is too directive and doesn't listen sufficiently well. The top of the organisation doesn't listen sufficiently to what the bottom is saying."

On 12 January 2007 it was announced that Hayward would replace Lord Browne as BP Chief Executive. In preparation for Hayward's take up as Group CEO, on 2 February Andy Inglis was appointed managing director of the BP Group, and succeeds Hayward as chief executive of BP's Exploration & Production (E&P) business.

Hayward was appointed to the Chief Executive position with immediate effect on 1 May 2007, after Lord Browne resigned following the lifting of a legal injunction preventing Associated Newspapers from publishing details about his private life.

BP was paying Hayward an annual salary of £1,045,000; his 2008 bonus was £1,496,000 and in 2009 his bonus was £2,090,000.