London, British Petroleum (BP) was prevented from selling fuel anywhere in central London Tuesday morning by Greenpeace activists, who shut down every petrol station in the capital and put up signs saying: ‘Closed. Moving beyond petroleum’. Later the same day (Tuesday), BP is expected to announce the appointment of Bob Dudley as the company’s new CEO. Greenpeace, a non-governmental environmental organization, is urging Dudley, who once worked at BP’s solar and wind business, to take the company in a new direction after his predecessor’s obsession with high risk, environmentally reckless sources of oil.

According to a Greenpeace statement, 50 stations have been immobilised by small teams which used a shut-off switch to stop the flow of fuel at each location. The switches were then safely removed and taken away to prevent the stations from re-opening. At one station in Camden, North London, Greenpeace climbers have replaced BP’s now infamous logo with a new version showing the green ‘sunflower’ disappearing into a sea of oil. Greenpeace Executive Director John Sauven, who is outside the Camden station, said: “The moment has come for BP to move beyond oil.

Under Tony Hayward the company went backwards, squeezing the last drops of oil from places like the Gulf of Mexico, the tar sands of Canada and even the fragile Arctic wilderness. “We’ve shut down all of BP’s stations in London to give the new boss a chance to come up with a better plan. They’re desperate for us to believe they’re going ‘beyond petroleum’. Well now’s the time to prove it.” On Tuesday, the board is also expected to announce record losses after setting aside around $25-30bn to pay for the massive clean up job and legal fees resulting from the huge spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Courtesy:INDIA BLOOMS