BP's Hayward Replaced by Dudley -- Given New Job in Russia

Interesting to be up at midnight to see CNN International journalists reading the Press Release that Tony Hayward will be axed from BP, well, sort of-- along with golden parachute and "his life back." Yep, He'll be in charge of operations in Russia.

from CNNmoney:

BP said Hayward will be replaced by American Robert Dudley effective October 1.

Dudley is another long-time BP employee with more than 30 years in the oil business. A chemical engineer by training, Dudley was put in charge of the day-to-day leadership of the Gulf Coast clean-up operation in June.

Hayward will receive a year's salary amounting to $1.6 million. The company also plans to nominate him as a non-executive director of Russian oil and gas venture TNK-BP.

BBC notes that

On Monday, the BBC revealed that Mr Hayward would be entitled to draw an annual pension of £600,000.

Mr Hayward's pension pot is valued at about £11m and he will keep his rights to shares under a long-term performance scheme which could - depending on BP's stock market recovery - eventually be worth several million pounds.

Bloomberg TV, on the Owl Farm screen right now, says the severance package of $18.2 mil is "reasonable compared to the American CEOs" were given in the past.

Bloomberg also reports that BP will be selling approx $30 billion of its assets mostly from Egypt, Vietnam and Pakistan.

We shall see how the BP press release and interpretations develop before most Americans, and especially the Gulf Coast residents wake up to the news. One hopes there will be more news on the losses of the Gulf Coast families and marine life and not simply BP's first quarterly loss.

We shall see.