BP CEO Tony Hayward may soon be jobless. (Creative Commons)

UPDATE: BP announced Tuesday that Tony Hayward will step down in October. (Not quite as soon as some had hoped.) The oil company said Robert Dudley will replace him.

The world may soon say goodbye to "the most hated -- and most clueless --man in America."

Tony Hayward, British Petroleum's chief executive, could resign as early as Tuesday during the company's second-quarter earnings teleconference. Earlier information suggested he would not leave the company until September or October.

As BP's head, Hayward has received much criticism for his handling of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, particularly for multiple PR blunders that included his attending a yacht race shortly after the spill.

In early May, Hayward told NBC's "Today" show that "it wasn't our accident, but we are absolutely responsible for the oil, for cleaning it up, and that's what we intend to do." He went on to blame the Deepwater Horizon explosion on Transocean, the company BP rented the oil rig from.

During U.S. Congressional hearings on the disaster, Hayward continued to deflect blame for the April 20 explosion, which killed 11 people and spilled millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, away from BP despite evidence that the company knew the rig had problems.

Hayward also attempted to sugarcoat the spill, saying the amount of oil spewing into the Gulf was tiny in comparison to the Gulf's size.

"The Gulf of Mexico is a very big ocean. The amount of volume of oil and dispersant we are putting into it is tiny in relation to the total water volume," he told the Guardian.

But with all his gaffes and presumably forced resignation there's no reason to feel too bad for him.

Hayward will get a hefty severance package of a year's salary plus roughly $930,000 and benefits of nearly $1 million. At 53, Hayward is also eligible for his pension - those who began working for BP before April 2006 are eligible to draw from their pension at age 50 - worth a paltry $18.5 million.

If that isn't enough to make your blood boil, then I don't know what is. It seems some of that money could be put to better use. Who knows, maybe Hayward will donate some of his pension to the thousands of people in the Gulf affected by the spill. But I won't be holding my breath on that one.

So, who will take over BP once Hayward is gone?

BP's Managing Director Robert Dudley is expected to take over the reigns. Dudley was given operational control over the clean-up of the oil spill in June.

Let's just hope Hayward's departure is not too late.

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