by Catherine Lear

Created on: July 26, 2010   Last Updated: July 27, 2010

Most people had never heard of Tony Hayward the CO of BP until the Deepwater Horizon disaster that happened on the 20th April 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico. We are all familiar with what happened when the American oilrig that was built and manned by employers of the USA part of BP exploded killing eleven members of its crew. However many of us do not know much if anything about Hayward.

Tony Hayward was born in Slough Berkshire, a town just a few miles from London on the 21May 1957. He went to Aston University in the centre of Birmingham in what is called the Midlands’. While at this University, he gained a first in Geology, from Aston University he went on to gain a PhD at Edinburgh University in Scotland.

In 1982, he decided to join BP. At the time BP was known as British Petroleum and his early work for British Petroleum was in the city of Aberdeen in the North of Scotland as a rig Geologist. However, Hayward was an ambitious employee that rose through the ranks quite quickly.

He travelled extensively for BP to places like China and France although most of his work would be in Britain. At a leadership meeting in Arizona he met Lord Brown the then leader of BP and as a result he was made Lord Browns assistant.

A move to Columbia saw him become the President of BP in Venezuela in 1995. Then in August 1997 saw him return to London as Vice President of BP. In 2007 Brown was forced to retire under the cloud of Safety issues and now Hayward took over Browns mantle.

It seems strange now that the explosion on the oilrig in the Mexican Gulf has brought Tony Hayward down. It was at his insistence when he took over from Lord Brown that BP should have an overhaul of its safety. Just a few short weeks into his new position he set a new benchmark in the safety of his work force saying that, "it was imperative that we have a work environment that is totally safe for our workers."

Was it his fault that he was let down by an American company that oversaw the safety of the American workers on the oilrig?

As a deeply loving family man himself, he would have been mortified by the loss of life on that rig. However, he did no favours for himself when being interviewed by saying, "I would like my life back", and he was seen sailing his yacht a few weeks after the disaster when it properly would have been better to keep a low profile.

So what now for Tony Hayward? He is still relatively young, and as it has been reported, he will now go from BP. He will go with a huge payment and it is reported that his severance pay will be £10 million and that he will walk into an oil job with the Russians.

Somehow, I think we have not heard the last of Tony Hayward. In addition, I would not be surprised that in the near future a publisher will be contacting him with a book deal. A wart and all book that I think will make people in the high places cringe with embarrassment as the truth of this disaster comes out.

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