BP confirmed on Monday that chief executive Tony Hayward will leave his post in October.
Hayward has worked for BP for 28 years and has held the post of director for the past three years. His leadership has come under fierce criticism since the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico in April, which has caused multibillion dollar losses for the company and has had serious environmental consequences for the region.
Media reports on Monday suggested that Hayward would be made a non-executive director at the Russian-British joint venture TNK-BP.
Hayward will be replaced at BP by American Bob Dudley, a former TNK-BP head.
Nearly a quarter of all of BP's oil extraction comes from its projects in Russia. The TNK-BP board of directors has 11 members: four representatives from each of two groups of shareholders, as well as three independent directors.
BP also announced it would sell off $30 billion of assets as it looks to raise funds to cover the cost of the Gulf of Mexico clean-up operation.
MOSCOW, July 27 (RIA Novosti)
