LONDON—BP PLC's new Chief Executive Bob Dudley on Monday launched a robust defense of his company's response to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill this summer, accusing the media and some people in the oil industry of fear-mongering and a rush to judgment that exacerbated the crisis. Mr. Dudley also reaffirmed that BP won't quit its businesses in the U.S. and intends to keep drilling in deep water in the Gulf of Mexico despite the damage to its reputation. BP's new boss, giving his first speech on the company's home soil, said he was shocked by the "protracted media and political firestorm" the oil spill ignited, which at its height "threatened the very existence of our company. "[There was] a great rush to judgment by a fair number of observers before the full facts could possibly be known," he said. "I watched graphic projections of oil swirling around the Gulf, around Florida, across and around Bermuda to England," he said, none of which came to pass. Notably, Mr. Dudley singled out for criticism "some in our industry" who joined the clamor against BP. Many other major oil companies operating in the Gulf of Mexico—ExxonMobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell PLC and Chevron Corp.—have sought to ...
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