New BP boss vows to stay the course in Gulf clean-up
Posted: 31 July 2010 0119 hrs

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NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana: Incoming BP boss Bob Dudley on Friday vowed the British energy giant would not abandon Gulf residents for years to come, as engineers fine-tuned plans to kill a ruptured well for good.

Making his first trip to the region since he was named to take over the helm of the British energy giant, Dudley said with no oil leaking into the Gulf of Mexico for two weeks the company's focus was shifting to long term recovery.

"We've had some good news on the oil... but that doesn't mean we're done. We'll be here for years," Dudley told reporters in Mississippi, one of the five states hit by the massive oil spill.

BP is working on drowning the well in an operation dubbed a "static kill" in which mud and cement will be injected down through the ruptured wellhead via a cap installed on July 15.

Dudley confirmed the operation had been pushed back slightly by a day, saying "we are hopeful by Tuesday the static kill will have been performed."

A further final measure to seal the leak from the bottom by injecting heavy drilling fluids into the casing of the well will be carried out by the end of August, he said.

With the focus moving now towards mitigating the long-term impact of what has been dubbed the nation's worst oil spill, Dudley said there would be signs that the nature of the operation was changing.

Miles of boom were being withdrawn from coastlines, and fewer clean-up crews in hazmat suits would be seen on beaches no longer soiled by oil.

"So you'll probably see that kind of a pullback. But commitment, absolutely no pullback," he pledged.

Dudley will take over as BP's chief executive officer on October 1, when Tony Hayward, who was widely criticised in the US for his handling of the crisis, hands over the reins.

It is the first time that an American has been named to run the London-based company, and in his first interview since resigning, Hayward told the Wall Street Journal on Friday that he would have liked to have stayed in his post.

"I became a villain for doing the right thing," Hayward said.

"I didn't want to leave BP, because I love the company," Hayward said, adding that "because I love the company, I must leave BP."

"BP can rebuild faster in America without Tony Hayward as its CEO," he said.

BP announced on Friday it was hiring disaster management consulting firm Witt Associates - called in after hurricanes Katrina, Gustav and Ike - to help draw up a long term recovery plan for the Gulf.

"I've seen the anguish and the pain that people have suffered after disaster events ... and I've seen time and time again after large events ... I've seen communities come back stronger and better," company boss James Lee Witt said.

BP also said on Friday it will meet its pledge to set up a 100 million dollar fund to help oil industry workers who have lost their jobs as a result of a six-month moratorium placed on deepwater Gulf drilling.

The first grants from the foundation would be made by September 1, the company said in a statement.

Meanwhile, in another encouraging sign for Gulf residents, Louisiana reopened wide swaths of state fishing grounds closed in the wake of the spill after testing the seafood, the state said.

"Commercial fishing will reopen for finfish and shrimp in portions of state waters east of the Mississippi River," the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries said.

But some 149,026 square kilometres of federal fishing waters remain off-limits, robbing Louisiana of a key economic lifeline.

- AFP/de