BC-US--BP Shares, 1st Ld-Writethru,0252

BP shares gain as market awaits Hayward decision

NEW YORK (AP) -- BP shares rose almost 5 percent Monday as the stock market anticipated a formal announcement of CEO Tony Hayward's departure.

BP said earlier that "no final decision" has been made about management changes. But a senior U.S. government official said Sunday that Hayward is on his way out. The official was briefed on the decision last week and spoke on condition of anonymity because an announcement had not been made.

A likely replacement would be Bob Dudley, BP's managing director, who spent part of his boyhood in Mississippi and has been running the day-to-day oil response since June. He would be the first American to head BP PLC since it was founded as the Anglo-Persian Oil Co. in 1909, according to a BP spokesman.

BP's board will meet Monday evening, a day before it announces earnings for the second quarter. Along with the results, BP is expected to give a preliminary estimate of the full costs of the oil spill.

Shares of BP PLC rose $1.82, or 4.9 percent, to $38.68 in midday trading in New York.

Hayward, 53, became a lightning rod for criticism in the U.S. as BP failed to halt the oil spill and the CEO made comments that came across as insensitive. The spill started on April 20 with an explosion and fire on the Deepwater Horizon rig. Eleven workers died in the disaster.

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AP writer Robert Barr in London contributed to this report.