【英语国际】英国石油公司董事长地位有点悬

BP PLC Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg has survived the disaster that claimed his company's chief executive, Tony Hayward. Now the question is whether his luck can hold out.

Mr. Svanberg said Tuesday that he had never considered resigning. 'The board have repeatedly and explicitly told me to stay on,' he told a reporter at a London news conference who asked if he should have stepped down instead of Mr. Hayward.

But his performance during the Deepwater Horizon crisis has been widely perceived as lackluster. His expression of sympathy for the 'small people' on the Gulf Coast last month added to BP's public-relations woes. Some shareholders say Mr. Svanberg, a former Swedish telecom executive, kept a notably low profile in the early weeks of the disaster, and that he didn't express enough support for Mr. Hayward at crucial junctures.

That has led some analysts to conclude his long-term tenure as chairman isn't assured. Some observers say there is at least one potential successor on the BP board -- Paul Anderson, the former chief executive of BHP Billiton PLC.

In an interview, Mr. Svanberg said that his early absence from the scene was at Mr. Hayward's request and with the agreement of the board, because he was relatively new to BP and the oil industry. He took over as chairman at the start of 2010.

Once criticism of his low profile began to grow, he changed tack, giving television interviews and meeting with spooked investors to reassure them of BP's financial health, at a time when fears about the mounting costs of the oil-spill cleanup had caused BP's share price to tank.

In those meetings Mr. Svanberg says he argued that keeping out of the spotlight had enabled him to have a productive meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama, while Mr. Hayward was already persona non grata.

That meeting, at which BP agreed to set up a $20 billion escrow account for compensating victims of the spill, did much to relieve pressure on the company from federal authorities, which had been at boiling point.

A former chief of Telefon AB LM Ericsson noted for his commitment to green causes, Mr. Svanberg's selection as chairman in 2009 was a surprise to many. He says he now knows more about BP and the oil industry than he might have learned in four or five years under normal circumstances.

Reuters英国石油公司董事长思文凯。
英国石油公司(BP PLC) 首席执行长唐熙华(Tony Hayward)因漏油事件而下台，该公司董事长思文凯(Carl-Henric Svanberg)则躲过一劫。现在，他的好运能否继续也成了一个问题。

周二，思文凯说从未考虑过辞职。在伦敦的新闻发布会上，一名记者问道，是否是他应该下台，而不是唐熙华。他说，董事会一再明确要求我留任。

但外界普遍认为他在深水地平线钻井平台漏油危机期间的表现乏善可陈。上个月，他对墨西哥湾沿岸“小人物们”表示同情之举加剧了公司的公关危机。部分股东说曾担任瑞典电信业高管的思文凯在灾难发生后的前几周一直明显保持低调，在关键时刻，他未对唐熙华表示足够的支持。

这让部分分析师断定他宝座不稳，或许无法长期担任董事长一职。部分观察人士说英国石油公司董事会中至少有一人有可能继承这个座位，即必和必拓公司(BHP Billiton PLC)前首席执行长安德森(Paul Anderson)。

思文凯在接受采访时说，他之所以在灾难初期隐身幕后，是应唐熙华的要求并得到了董事会的同意，因为他进入英国石油公司和石油行业的时间不长。他于2010年初开始担任英国石油公司董事长一职。

随着对他隐身幕后的批评开始增多，他改变了策略，开始接受电视访问，当外界对油污清理成本不断高涨的担忧导致英国石油公司股价惨跌之时，他又与受惊的投资者会面以使其确信英国石油公司的财务状况稳健。

思文凯说，他在会面中表示，避开外界的关注使其能够与美国总统奥巴马(Barack Obama)进行富有成效的会谈，因为当时唐熙华已经成为不受欢迎之人。

英国石油公司在会谈中同意设立高达200亿美元的托管帐户，用于对漏油事件的受害者进行补偿。当时美国联邦当局已经炸开了锅，向英国石油公司施加了巨大的压力。此次会谈在缓解这些压力方面效果非凡。

思文凯曾担任爱立信公司(Telefon AB LM Ericsson)的首席执行长，并以致力于环保事业著称。2009年，英国石油公司选择他担任公司董事长，这让许多人感到意外。他说，他现在对英国石油公司及石油行业的了解比在正常情况下四、五年学到的还多。