LONDON, England - July 27, 2010 - Amerikan Robert Dudley will become BP PLC's first ever non-British chief executive, the company said Tuesday as it reported a record quarterly loss and set aside $32.2 billion to cover costs of the devastating Gulf of Mexico oil gusher.

Ending weeks of speculation, BP confirmed that gaffe-prone Tony Hayward will step down October 1 as the London-based company seeks to reassure both the public and investors that it is learning lessons from the disaster.

"BP will change as a result of this accident," BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg told investors during a webcast presentation on the company's second quarter results, which revealed a record $17 billion loss. "We are taking a hard look at ourselves, what we do and how we do it. What we learn will have implications for our ways of working, our strategy and our governance," he said.