BP chief's gushing mouth

He meant to apologise for one of the world's worst oil spillages but ended up saying the unsayable. Colin Randall on a petrochemical boss on the back foot.

Illustration by Kagan McLeod for The National

"I would like my life back." Perhaps no more than a careless aside, those six words will be remembered long after BP finally succeeds in plugging the catastrophic oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, and long after Tony Hayward is eased or pushed out of his job as the company's chief executive.

It began as an apology to residents of Venice, Louisiana, whose lives and livelihoods have been blighted by the gushing torrent. Responding to reporters, Hayward started well enough, twice using the "sorry" word before insisting that no one wanted the crisis ended more than he did. Then he destroyed the charm offensive with his staggeringly insensitive phrase. Few would suggest that if only Hayward had stopped at the regrets, which appeared perfectly sincere, he would have eliminated the sense of anger felt on the Gulf Coast towards BP, and himself. But at least his words would have served their proper function as an unqualified expression of remorse.

Indeed, had the thought been uttered in private to a close family member, it would have seemed an understandable human sentiment. But Hayward chose a public moment, while among the people of an afflicted coast, to express a concern that could only be seen as selfish in the extreme. In doing so, he booked a place in that rogues' gallery of influential people unable to stop themselves saying the unsayable, alongside the British government spin doctor Jo Moore with her "good day to bury bad news" advice to ministers on September 11 and Gordon Brown's description of a Lancashire pensioner as a "bigoted woman".

Not quite three weeks later, the remark returned to haunt Hayward afresh as he put into practice that desire to have his life back. Compounding one piece of gross misjudgement with another, he went sailing. Or, rather, he went to watch his 16-metre yacht Bob compete, in the oil-free waters surrounding the Isle of Wight off England's southern coast, in the JP Morgan Asset Management Corporate Management Round the Island race.

It was last Saturday, the day before Father's Day, and Hayward was with his son, Kieran. A BP spokesman talked of the chief executive taking some well-earned private time, "spending a few hours with his family at a weekend". But once again, Hayward seemed to everyone else to have acted thoughtlessly, a view strengthened by fresh memories of an unconvincing appearance before US congressmen two days earlier. Nor had it been forgotten that he had seemed to suggest in an interview with The Times of London that Americans were particularly likely to lodge fraudulent compensations claims.

The headline writer from the Canadian daily newspaper, the National Post, was clearly exaggerating in writing: "Is Tony Hayward the world's dumbest CEO?" But all the indignation and hostility of the northern continent of the Americas, and a fair amount of prejudice too, was smartly captured in the question. Those willing to sympathise with Hayward, in what bears all the hallmarks of a no-win predicament, talk of scapegoating and hypocrisy. The White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, was among critics of the outing to a yachting tournament even though President Barack Obama, hardly immune from concern about his own conduct of the crisis, felt comfortable in devoting several hours to golf over the same weekend.

Yet it is clear that the threat to Tony Hayward's reputation and position goes far beyond public relations faux pas, crass and damaging as these may have been. With ominous precision, Alissa Figueroa, a writer from The Christian Science Monitor, presented what she saw as the central issues in an article headed: Gulf Oil Spill: Five Numbers That Could Sink BP CEO Hayward. She listed them as: the US$2 billion (DH7.3bn) already spent by BP unsuccessfully tackling the spill; the "worst-case scenario" of 100,000 barrels leaking into the Gulf daily; fines of Dh3,670 a barrel, potentially three times higher if gross negligence is proved; a Dh73 billion "escrow" fund to pay for damage; and Dh334 billion wiped off BP's market value since the April 19, the eve of the spill.

How long ago it must seem that Hayward was being hailed in an admiring British newspaper profile as a bright, modern and immensely successful business leader with "the gift of an organised mind, steely resolve and an enviable passion for living". The passion for living apart, those words now have a hollow look; they were written by the respected financial writer Judi Bevan, author of The Rise and Fall or Marks & Spencer, five years ago. On the Gulf Coast, Bevan's own assessment - "bringing prosperity to the regions where BP operates genuinely matters to him" - would, at the very least, raise sceptical eyebrows today.

Back in 2005, of course, Bevan's view was the received wisdom. BP was a great and hugely profitable company; Hayward, then head of exploration and production, had accomplished much in the 23 years since his first-class geology degree and PhD had brought him a clutch of job offers from the oil industry. About two years after the profile was published, in the wake of critical fall-out from an explosion that killed 15 people at BP's Texas City refinery, Hayward crowned an impressive series of achievements at the company by being named chief executive in succession to Lord Browne. He had also come to the attention of Texas residents, admitting that BP had displayed a management style that was "too directive and doesn't listen sufficiently well". These words, too, now appear at odds with the verdict of the Gulf Coast on his own corporate style.

The importance and seniority of Hayward's position do not come without substantial rewards. Forbes lists his 2009 salary as Dh5.7 million, with a bonus of exactly double that, taking his year's gross pay to more than Dh17 million. He was also given generous stock options. The Daily Telegaph of London has reported that he sold about a third of his BP shares a month before the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded, killing 11 men and beginning the massive spill; the newspaper was careful to point out that Hayward had committed no impropriety and could have had no prior knowledge of the coming disaster.

Anthony Bryan Hayward was born in May 1957, the oldest of seven children, in the town of Slough, west of London. He attended a grammar school where he excelled in sport, especially football, and science. In his interview with Bevan, he spoke of choosing Birmingham University because it had a good football team - Hayward is a passionate supporter of the London Premier League club West Ham United - but soon found himself drawn to the study of Earth's evolution. An academic career loomed but, after moving to Edinburgh for his PhD course, he began to see oil as "offering more adventure and challenge".

After opting for BP, he demonstrated uncommon ability and ambition which were rewarded with a swift rise through a string of key technical and commercial positions until he became an executive assistant to Lord Browne, a role followed by other senior appointments in London and overseas. But as the yachting day out with his son indicated, he has always made time for his family and is said to be devoted to his wife, Maureen, Kieran and a daughter, Tara.

The decision to shift Hayward from day-to-day involvement in the emergency operations in the Gulf of Mexico immediately followed his uncomfortable session at the Congressional hearing, where his description of a "complex accident caused by an unprecedented combination of failures" was not enough to satisfy members unhappy with his refusal to answer a number of questions. Tony Hayward's fabulous past earnings, and generous reported pension entitlements, should offer his family ample protection whatever the future holds.

But with no sign that an end to the spill is imminent, the inescapable conclusion on any view of this extraordinary corporate crisis, and its grave environmental and economic implications, is that Hayward will soon see that clumsily voiced wish, to have his life back, granted in a way he cannot have envisaged only a short time ago. [e-mail]