BP directors call for chairman to go over Deepwater leak

Environmental disaster has been matched in scale by public relations disaster for the hapless oil giant

(GERALD HERBERT / AP )

Senior BP directors want their chairman, Carl-Henric Svanberg, sacked because they claim his mishandling of the Gulf of Mexico disaster has turned a crisis into a catastrophe.

The BP directors, speaking under terms of anonymity, told The Independent on Sunday yesterday that a growing number of the oil company's high-level executives are so appalled by Mr Svanberg's low-profile role since the Gulf spill over a month ago that they think he should be told to quit.

One oil executive said: "This spill is a disaster for BP and the world. But it's been made worse by a breakdown in BP's own public relations and communications which have been awful, truly awful. Mr Svanberg should be there with the chief executive, Tony Hayward, showing the world that BP is doing everything it can to clean up the mess, offering to pay the necessary compensation and be the public face of BP. He has left him out to dry."

The Swedish chairman, who joined BP last year from Ericsson, has made just one public statement since the Deepwater oil spill a month ago, leaving Mr Hayward to take all the criticism for the catastrophe and for the long delay in capping the leaking pipe.

BP and US government staff in the area of the disaster are now waiting to see if the latest attempted remedy – a large cap placed over the well – has worked. They said it would take another 24 hours to tell, but the signs were not looking good. On Friday, the cap was collecting 42,000 gallons (159,000 litres) a day – less than a 10th of the amount leaking from the well. Later, BP said in a tweet that, after it was installed Thursday night, it had collected about 76,000 gallons.

The widening scope of the disaster deepened the anger and despair, just as President Obama arrived for his third visit to the area. The oil has reached the shores of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. It has turned marshlands into death zones for wildlife and beaches rusty and crimson.

All this piles pressure on the BP chairman. Although there was growing criticism of Mr Svanberg's absence last week in the City, this is the first sign that BP staff are also deeply unhappy with his handling of the Gulf oil spill.

The source added: "Crucially, he should have been there on the Louisiana coastline with President Obama, showing that BP takes full responsibility for the leak. But he is nowhere to be seen. It is a fiasco for us. He should also be out and about talking to US senators, British ministers, to the press, explaining the situation in full to them, as BP's future is in the national interest."

Another director told The IoS that BP's staff are fully behind Mr Hayward, despite some external calls for him to resign to take the rap for the oil spill. "It's not Hayward, but Svanberg who should go," he said.

On Friday, Mr Hayward, back from the US, met investors in London to assure them that BP's dividend would be paid this year despite the huge estimated costs of the clean-up operation. BP is Britain's biggest company, paying out about £7bn a year in dividends and is held by most of the UK's pension funds. It also pays about £5bn a year in corporation tax, so is very important to the UK economy.

Analysts predict BP could spend up to $30bn on the Deepwater repairs, as well as the compensation involved in future claims. Mr Hayward also said the latest attempt to plug the pipe looked hopeful, helping the shares recover some lost ground, closing on Friday up 4 per cent at 448p. BP's stock-market value is still down by a third, to around £95bn, since the leak.

More than 10,000 of BP's 80,000 staff worldwide are involved in the emergency operation to cap the oil leak, with engineers and other technicians being brought from around the world to help find a solution. Experts from rival oil giants such as Shell and Exxon have also been drafted in.