July 27, 2010 - LONDON - BP’s CEO is stepping down. In an announcement today, BP said that, by mutual agreement with the BP board, Tony Hayward is to step down as group chief executive with effect from October 1st. He will be succeeded as of that date by fellow executive director Robert Dudley. The 54-year-old Dudley is a main board director of BP and currently runs the recently-established unit responsible for clean-up operations and compensation programs in the Gulf of Mexico. He joined BP from Amoco after the merger of the two companies in 1998. He was president and CEO of BP’s Russian joint venture, TNK-BP, until 2008. BP said that under the terms of his contract, Hayward would receive a year’s salary in lieu of notice, amounting to £1.045 million.