BP HAS moved to repair its image in the wake of the huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico as the energy group unveiled plans to sell $30 billion in assets and confirmed the departure of its chief executive.

The announcements came as BP reported one of the largest losses in British corporate history, losing $17 billion after tax in the second quarter after a $32.2 billion pre-tax provision to pay for cleaning up the spill and compensating its victims.

BP said Tony Hayward would be replaced as chief executive on October 1st by Bob Dudley, its American managing director who has been heading the company’s response to the spill in the US.

Mr Hayward will remain on BP’s board until November 30th and will be nominated as a director of TNK-BP, the company’s Russian joint venture. Mr Hayward will be able to take his pension when he is 55, in two years, and is taking a year’s salary of £1.045 million (€1.25 million). His pension pot was worth £10.8 million (€12.9 million) at the end of last year.

Mr Hayward said: “The Gulf of Mexico explosion was a terrible tragedy for which, as the man in charge of BP when it happened, I will always feel a deep responsibility, regardless of where blame is ultimately found to lie.”

BP’s underlying performance, excluding the spill, was strong in the second quarter, with profits of $5 billion and operating cash flow of $8.9 billion, up 31 per cent from the equivalent period of 2009.

It said its $30 billion disposal plan, a further acceleration of an existing programme, would “leave the company with a smaller but higher quality exploration and production business”. The group recently announced a deal to sell assets in North America and Egypt for $7 billion to Apache of the US.

The proceeds of its disposals will be used to meet spill costs, including the $20 billion fund agreed with the US administration, and to reduce borrowings. It also aims to cut net debt to between $10 billion and $15 billion in the next 18 months. BP has also lined up “substantial additional bank-borrowing facilities, all of which remain undrawn”.