E2 Round-up: Cleanup group swamped by oil spill, BP aids gas stations hit by boycott, and BP CEO Hayward’s claim of safety improvements is questioned

* BP is trying to aid gas stations suffering from a consumer boycott

“Gas could become cheaper at some BP pumps after the oil company agreed to measures meant to help distributors and station owners offset a consumer boycott against BP fuel that was sparked by the out-of-control spill in the Gulf of Mexico,” the Associated Press reports.

“BP PLC has offered to give distributors of its gasoline money back for every gallon of gas they purchase at terminals. The cash back amounts to 2 cents per gallon along the Gulf Coast and 1 cent per gallon in the East and Midwest, according to several dealers contacted by The Associated Press. BP confirmed the figures.”

* BP CEO Tony Hayward has an uneven record on improving safety

Hayward took power vowing to improve the company’s safeguards after several accidents, but the results have been uneven, according to a Wall Street Journal investigation.

“A Wall Street Journal examination of internal BP documents, legal filings, official investigations and reports by federal inspectors, as well as interviews with regulators, shows a record that doesn’t always match Mr. Hayward’s reports of safety improvements,” it states.

“Since Mr. Hayward took over, BP has continued to spar with regulators over the same issues that got it into trouble before his tenure as CEO. Some of its refineries still get poor marks for safety. And four years after one of Alaska’s worst oil spills, BP’s pipelines there have continued to leak.”

“They claim to be very much focused on safety, I think sincerely,” says Jordan Barab, deputy assistant secretary at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, in the story. “But somehow their sincerity and their programs don’t always get translated well into the refinery floor.”