Hayward Says BP Was Not Prepared for Gulf Oil Disaster

Tony Hayward, former CEO of BP (BP) said the company was unprepared for the Gulf oil spill and the media attention that went with it. In an interview with BBC News to be broadcast today, Hayward said BP's emergency planning was lacking, and the company was "making it up day to day".

"What was going on was some extraordinary engineering," Hayward said, according to The Associated Press. "But when it was played out in the full glare of the media as it was, of course it looked like fumbling and incompetence."

Sponsored Links

The explosion of an oil rig on April 20 killed 11 workers and left crude oil spewing from a BP well into the Gulf of Mexico. The oil spewed for months, fouling beaches and killing wildlife in the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history.

Hayward drew intense criticism for repeated media blunders, such as saying "I want my life back" and taking part in a U.K. yacht race during the crisis. He later resigned his position at BP.

In the BBC interview, Hayward said he was "pretty angry" at the personal attacks. "If I had done a degree at RADA (The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art) rather than a degree in geology, I may have done better, but I'm not certain it would've changed the outcome," he said.