NEW ORLEANS — Who's in charge? Depends on whom you ask.
BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg told Britain's Sky News television on Friday that CEO Tony Hayward is on his way out as the company's point man on the Gulf oil spill crisis. He said Hayward "is now handing over the operations, the daily operations to (BP Managing Director) Bob Dudley".
Other company officials insisted, however, that Hayward was still the man and that the switch had already been announced and isn't immediate.
London-based BP spokeswoman Sheila Williams said the chairman merely meant that Dudley was preparing to take on the role.
"When he says 'now,' he means that the transition starts now," she told The Associated Press on Saturday. "Hayward is very much in charge until we've stopped the leak".
She said Dudley was working on "getting a team together, the takeover — the transitional stuff. We want to be able to continue the momentum".
Spokesman Robert Wine said much the same.
"Until the acute part of this crisis is over, until the leak is capped, Tony Hayward is still very much in charge in the response of this crisis," Wine said.
