"BP Plc appointed U.S.-born Robert Dudley as chief executive officer and pledged to accelerate asset sales to as much as $30 billion after the Gulf of Mexico oil spill led to a record loss.

The second-quarter net loss of $17.2 billion compared with a profit of $4.39 billion in the year-earlier period. Dudley will take over from Tony Hayward on Oct. 1, the London-based company said in a statement today. "

Brian Swint and Eduard Gismatullin report for Bloomberg July 27, 2010. [2]