Dudley joined Amoco in 1979. He worked in a variety of positions including negotiating deals in the South China Sea. He worked in the oil industry for a long time including Amoco in Moscowfrom 1994 to 1997. He became a general manager for strategy. After BP acquired Amoco he assumed a similar position at BP. From 2003-2008 he was president and chief executive of TNK-BP. He was appointed when BP went into partnership with a group of Russian billionaires known as AAR. The deal was worth $6bn. Under Dudley, the joint venture increased oil output by a third to 1.6 million barrels per day. However, he fell out with AAR, who accused him of favouring BP. Disputes escalated and reached a point where BP's technical staff were barred from working in Russia. In June 2008, Bob Dudley left Russia in haste when his visa was not renewed. At the time, he said he had faced "sustained harassment" from the Russian authorities. For five months, he attempted to run TNK-BP from an undisclosed secret location outside Russia but resigned in December 2008. Wikileaks revealed that Bob Dudley strongly suspected Igor Sechin, Russia’s deputy prime minister and chairman of the state-owned energy company, Rosneft, for organizing a boardroom coup that led him to feel life-threatened. On April 6, 2009 he became a managing director of BP, and was given oversight of the company's activities in the Americas and Asia. On June 23, 2010 he was appointed president and chief executive officer of BP's Gulf Coast Restoration Organization working with the oil leakage in the Gulf of Mexico, which affected five US states. As head of the organization, he was responsible for the cleaning work in the Gulf, the cooperation with authorities, informing the public about BP's activities surrounding the disaster and analyzing the damage caused by the disaster. On July 27, 2010, BP announced that Dudley would succeed Tony Hayward as their group chief executive on October 1, 2010. Dudley was also appointed to the board of directors. In March 2013, Dudley was offered a seat on the board of Rosneft. In April 2017, it was announced that BP was to cut Dudley's pay by $8 million after the shareholder revolt in 2016. 59% of the shareholders voted against Dudley's 2015 pay and benefits package worth $19.6 million. Dudley's retirement is due in 2020, by when he will be succeeded by Bernard Looney. Commenting on his departure, BP chairman Helge Lund said: "Bob has dedicated his whole career to the service of this industry. He was appointed chief executive at probably the most challenging time in BP's history."
Personal life
Dudley is married to Mary Dudley, and they have two children. He is a Conservative Party donor.
