Hayward in talks with Carlyle over Latin American oil venture

Tony Hayward, the former chief executive of BP, is scouring Latin America for oil assets under an agreement with Carlyle Group, one of the world’s largest private equity investors.

Sky News has learnt that Mr Hayward, who stepped down from the top job at BP soon after the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster in 2010, is seeking to identify oilfields to purchase in countries including Colombia and Argentina.

If successful, Mr Hayward is expected to be paid a fee by Carlyle for introducing the deal to the firm, although it is not clear whether he would have an ongoing role in the management of the new venture.

The former BP chief is understood to have lined up a team of oil executives to run the business under Carlyle's ownership.

News (Other OTC: NWSAL - news) of the plan comes shortly after the release of a big-screen account of the Gulf of Mexico spill which cost Mr Hayward his job.

Deepwater Horizon, starring the actor Mark Wahlberg, has been criticised by BP for its account of the events which led to the fatal explosion on the oil rig in 2010.

Mr Hayward left the company soon after, with Bob Dudley installed as his successor, but has since returned to mainstream corporate life and now chairs two publicly listed companies.

At Glencore, the FTSE-100 mining and commodities group which last year was forced to embark on an urgent debt reduction exercise, the share price has recovered as its balance sheet has begun to be repaired.

Mr Hayward also chairs Genel Energy (Other OTC: GEGYF - news) , which was born from a venture set up with Nat Rothschild, the financier, in 2011.

Genel, which is focused on oil assets in Kurdistan in the north of Iraq, has endured a torrid time after oil prices were sent into a tailspin.

The company now has a market value of less than £300m, and has launched a search for Mr Hayward's successor.

Mr Hayward's search for oil assets in Latin America is not the only quest to invest in the industry in which Carlyle is involved.

The firm has also agreed to back, alongside CVC Capital Partners, Neptune Oil and Gas, a company established by the former Centrica (LSE: CNA.L - news) chief executive Sam Laidlaw.

A string of vehicles have been set up to buy oil assets on the cheap, but many have struggled to gain traction because of a reluctance among oil majors to dispose of them at the bottom of the cycle.

Carlyle and Mr Hayward declined to comment.