BP's Hayward: 'I became a villain'

VENICE, La., July 30 (UPI) -- BP chief Tony Hayward defended his response to the disastrous Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, saying he was demonized from the get-go.

"I became a villain for doing the right thing," Hayward said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. "But I understand that people find it easier to vilify an individual more than a company."

Hayward, who is stepping down Oct. 1, said he did everything possible once the oil rig exploded and sank in April by taking responsibility for the spill, and spending billions of dollars to stop the spewing oil and clean up the shoreline, the Journal reported Friday.

Eleven rig workers died in the explosion that has become the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history.

BP officials said the first step in a weeks-long process of killing the crippled well could begin as soon as Sunday, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Hayward acknowledged to the Journal that some of his comments, particularly his "I'd like my life back" remark in a commercial that aired shortly after the spill, were "wrong."

Hayward, based in BP's London headquarters, said he resented the blitz of criticism from the Obama administration and U.S. congressional members, but added, "I understood their frustration."

He told the Journal he wanted to stay, but determined his presence would hurt BP.

"I didn't want to leave BP because I love the company," Hayward said. "Because I love the company, I must leave BP."

The gusher stopped after a containment cap was installed over the wellhead July 15. Experts said the "static kill" operation that includes cramming "drilling mud" in a pipe into the well through a valve would shut the well for good, the Times said.

"The cap is just a temporary solution," said Peter Clark, an engineering professor at the University of Alabama. "But filling a hole with cement is forever."

Once the mud is in place, engineers will complete the relief well they have been boring since early May, trying to intersect it with the original well bore. Engineers said they expect to break into the original well around Aug. 10.