BP's future prosperity vital to UK
THE future of BP is vital to us all.
It is a huge company with assets all over the world, and yesterday's reshaping of its management and strategy for the future will hopefully pull it back from the brink.
Chief executive officer Tony Hayward had done a good job at the company, improving production and profits.
Unfortunately, the Deepwater Horizon disaster and the loss of 11 lives came on his watch and he was never likely to survive it, particularly after US President Barack Obama said he should be fired.
The irony will not be missed that Obama himself is suffering from very low approval ratings and is currently touring the US trying to bolster his flagging popularity as a leader.
Hayward is on his way to a senior role in Russia – a country where BP have 30 per cent of their assets.
He still has a lot to offer the oil industry and is clearly a man BP want to keep.
By keeping him on their books, BP is also letting the president know that they choose their top executives.
Many Americans are understandably very angry about the economic and ecological disaster that followed the oil well explosion but there seems to be a growing understanding that it is in no one's interests to see BP fail.
And here in the United Kingdom, one-seventh of our pension funds are invested in the company.
There will be very few of us who will not be affected directly by the future prosperity of BP and we must hope that yesterday's announcements are the beginning of a new chapter in the history of the company.
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Weather for Belfast
Tuesday 14 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 6 C to 9 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
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