Tony Hayward a "long line of PR gaffes" by attending the race while the Gulf oil spill continued. In June, BP put Mississippi native Bob Dudley in charge of handling the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Dudley was appointed president and chief executive of the newly created Gulf Coast Restoration Organization, reporting to Hayward. Following the "Deepwater Horizon" oil spill, there were rumours that Hayward would resign, but the company dismissed these. A BBC report said that a BP press release stated that Hayward "has the full confidence of the board of directors of BP." BP announced on 27 July 2010 that
Morris J. Berman oil spill response efforts could be improved. Several, though not all, of the things learned during this spill affected response efforts for future spills such as the BP Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. Morris J. Berman oil spill The Morris J. Berman oil spill occurred on January 7, 1994, when the "Morris J. Berman", a single-hull 302-foot-long barge, with the capacity to carry more than 3 million gallons of oil, collided with a coral reef near San Juan, Puerto Rico, causing the release of 750,000 gallons of heavy grade oil. The spill affected the tourism and fishing industries