BP: American Robert Dudley to become new CEO

British oil giant BP says that Chief Executive Officer Tony Hayward, who has been in the spot light since the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, will step down on October 1. He is to be replaced by fellow executive American Robert Dudley .

In a statement that also reported BP's record quarterly loss of $16.9 billion, the company said the decision was made by mutual agreement, reports the Associated Press. It said it planned to recommend 53-year-old Hayward for a non-executive board position at its Russian joint venture while acknowledging successes the outgoing CEO recorded in the past three years. The statement by BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg said the company has set aside over $30 billion to cover the costs of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. It described the explosion of the Macondo well on the Deepwater Horizon platform run by BP in the Gulf of Mexico as a "watershed incident" for the company. The explosion which left nine workers dead had led to the largest oil spill in US history. BP has said it is committing $32.2 billion to cover the costs linked to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.