PROFILE: Robert (Bob) Dudley, the quiet American chosen to save BP

Jul 27, 2010, 10:32 GMT

London - Robert (Bob) Dudley, the quiet American chosen to rescue BP Plc from financial and reputational disaster, is known as a man who can withstand harassment from the Russian secret service.

During his 30 years in the oil industry, the five-year stint as president and chief executive of TNK-BP, the oil giant's delicate and often troublesome joint venture with Russia, must count among the most memorable.

The project for oil exploration in eastern Siberia led to an acrimonious dispute in which BP's oligarch partners accused Dudley of 'violating Russian laws'. He was eventually forced to leave as his visa was not renewed, in June 2008.

At the time, Dudley reported 'sustained harassment' from the Russian authorities after the security service, the FSB, twice raided TNK-BP's offices in Moscow.

For five months, Dudley, accused by the Russians of 'favouring BP,' attempted to run the business from an undisclosed secret location outside Russia but resigned from the project in December, 2008.

Following the damaging reputational fallout from this year's Gulf of Mexico spill, BP was quick to push Dudley centre stage, pointing out his 'deep appreciation and affinity' with the Gulf coast.

Dudley, who was born in New York but grew up in Mississippi, studied chemical engineering at the University of Illinois before joining the Amoco Corporation in 1979, for whom he worked until its merger with BP in 1998.

A US passport holder, Dudley was given an honorary Commander of the British Empire (CBE) award by Queen Elizabeth II in 2009 for services to global energy security and industry.

After initially, in the late 1990s, taking on the role of executive assistant to BP's chief executive, he went on to oversee BP's operations in Russia, the Caspian Sea, Angola, Algeria and Egypt.

In 2003, he was appointed chief executive of TNK-BP and, in 2009, was made managing director of the BP group.

Well respected within the company, he was the obvious choice to take over from Tony Hayward, whose much-criticized response to the oil spill caused serious tensions with the US administration.

'Only an American can save the day at BP now,' one British oil analyst said.

On his appointment, effective from October 1, Dudley said: 'I do not underestimate the nature of the task ahead.'

But the company was financially robust with an enviable portfolio of assets and professional teams that were among the best in the industry.

'I believe this combination - allied to clear, strategic direction - will put BP on the road to recovery,' said Dudley.