"Meet BP's Bob Dudley, the human relief well.

This week the Mississippi-bred, wispy-haired Dudley has been paraded through the Gulf coast, the White House and press corps as the new face of BP's fight to contain the damage the oil spill has unleashed on U.S. shores -- and the company's reputation.

One week after BP chief executive Tony Hayward endured a tongue-lashing at a House committee hearing, returned to England and made headlines by going sailing on his yacht, Dudley has stepped in to speed up plans for a free-standing BP unit that will be devoted entirely to repairing the Gulf environment.

But it will take more than Dudley's calm demeanor and American accent to clean up BP's image, which has been blackened by the relentless video of oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico, the widening damage to the environment and reams of damning documents about the rig accident that triggered the spill."

Steven Mufson reports for the Washington Post June 24, 2010. [2]