With BP’s British CEO reviled in US, oil firm turns Gulf cleanup over to one of its top Yanks

BP’s Yankee exec readies to take over cleanup duty

LONDON — BP’s answer to criticism that its CEO is too much of a stuffy Brit is to put an American in charge of the Gulf oil spill cleanup.

The London-based oil giant says chief executive Tony Hayward will be handing over oil spill duties to fellow BP executive Bob Dudley. That means a man who spent time in southern Mississippi as a boy will get to oversee the Gulf Coast cleanup.

Analysts say that from a public relations standpoint it’s way past time to make an American the face of the company for the worst offshore spill in American history.