NEW ORLEANS — The American picked to lead oil giant BP pledged Tuesday — the same day workers in Michigan and Louisiana fought two other but much smaller spills — that his company will remain committed to the oil-washed Gulf of Mexico even after the busted well is sealed.
Robert Dudley will become BP’s first non-British chief executive, the company said as it reported a record quarterly $17 billion loss, and set aside $32.2 billion to cover costs from the spill for which it says it will claim a $9.9 billion taxation credit.
Asked in a conference call Tuesday about whether the company has discussed the tax credit with the Obama administration, outgoing BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward said, “We have followed the IRS regulations as they’re currently written.”
BP also announced it would sell $30 billion in assets to help pay costs related to the spill.
Hayward will step down as chief executive on Oct. 1, BP said. The London-based company seeks to reassure both the public and investors that it is learning lessons from the April 20 oil rig explosion that killed 11 workers and set off the worst offshore spill in U.S. history.
Dudley, BP’s managing director, was brought in to oversee the spill response after Hayward’s series of ill-timed moves, including saying that he would like his life back and attending a yacht race off the coast of England as Gulf residents struggled to cope with the spill.
Hayward, who will leave his CEO position with benefits valued at more than $18 million, told reporters he had been “demonized and vilified” but had no major regrets about his leadership.
“Life isn’t fair,” he said, but he conceded that wasn’t the point. “BP cannot move on in the U.S. with me as its leader.”
The White House was not impressed with Hayward’s comments.
“What’s not fair is what’s happened on the Gulf,” press secretary Robert Gibbs said. “What’s not fair is the actions of some have caused the greatest environmental disaster that our country has ever seen.”
Hayward will stay on BP’s board until Nov. 30, and the company said it planned to recommend him for a nonexecutive board position at its Russian joint venture, TNK-BP.
Oil pollutes major river in Michigan
Crews were working Tuesday to contain and clean up more than 800,000 gallons of oil that poured into a creek and flowed into the Kalamazoo River in southern Michigan, coating birds and fish.
The oil leaked Monday from a 30-inch pipeline built in 1969 that carries about 8 million gallons of oil per day from Griffith, Ind., to Sarnia, Ontario.
The Kalamazoo River eventually flows into Lake Michigan, but officials didn’t expect the oil to reach the lake.
Calgary, Alberta-based Enbridge Inc.’s affiliate Enbridge Energy Partners LP of Houston estimated about 819,000 gallons of oil spilled into Talmadge Creek before the company stopped the flow. Enbridge crews and contractors deployed oil skimmers and absorbent booms to minimize its environmental impact.
As of Tuesday afternoon, oil was reported in about 16 miles of the Kalamazoo River downstream of the spill, said Mary Dettloff, spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment. She said state officials were told during a briefing that an estimated 877,000 gallons spilled — a figure more than 50,000 gallons higher than the company’s public estimate.
Barge hits well in Louisiana lake
A barge slammed into an abandoned well in the coastal Mud Lake early Tuesday, sending a shower of water, natural gas and oil spewing about 100 feet into the air.
Emergency officials said about 6,000 feet of containment boom was in place around the site in a lake just north of Barataria Bay, which has already been fouled by oil from the massive spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
While there was no estimate of how much oil was spewing Tuesday, officials said the mile-long slick it created was small compared with the Gulf spill.
The towboat captain told investigators the well, owned by Houston-based Cedyco Corp., was not lit as required, Coast Guard Capt. John Arenstam said.
The Coast Guard hired contractors to begin attempts to cap the well and for cleanup.
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