LONDON (Reuters) – BP's new chief executive said its rivals and the media had helped cause a climate of fear during the summer when the oil giant's blown-out Gulf of Mexico well caused the worst ever oil spill in the United States. The comments by Bob Dudley represented the latest volley in BP's battle to rebuild its battered reputation by taking a harder line with those who have blamed the disaster on a safety culture at BP that, they said, put cost-saving before safety. However, the remarks also prompted angry reaction from one U.S. lawmaker who said the company continued to be in denial about its responsibilities and called on Dudley to testify before congress. In an address to the annual conference of British business lobby group, the CBI, Dudley said there had been: "A great rush to judgment by a fair number of observers before the full facts could possibly be known, even from some in our industry. "I watched graphic projections of oil swirling around the gulf, around Florida, across and around Bermuda to England -- these appeared authoritative and inevitable. The public fear was everywhere," he said. BP said in late July that Dudley would take over as chief executive on October ...
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