BP General Council Bondy to leave at year end

LONDON, Oct (HKSE: 3366-OL.HK - news) 24 (Reuters) - BP's General Council Rupert Bondy will step down at the end of the year after eight years in office during which he oversaw the legal battles surrounding the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, a company spokesman said on Monday.

Bondy, an executive team member, will join health and home products manufacturer Reckitt Benckiser (Xetra: A0M1W6 - news) as senior vice-president general council and company secretary.

The 55-year-old British national who joined BP in 2008 was at the heart of several huge legal processes with U.S. authorities and claimants following the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion in April 2010 in which 11 workers died and which resulted in the worst oil spill in U.S. history.

The British oil and gas company paid more than $55 billion in penalties and clean up costs in the years following the incident.

"Rupert has been a greatly valued member of BP's executive team and will always have the deep respect of the board and senior management of the company. I wish him all the very best," BP Chief Executive Officer Bob Dudley said in a statement.

A successor for Bondy has yet be named, the company said. (Reporting by Ron Bousso, editing by David Evans)