LONDON – BP’s embattled chief Tony Hayward is in the clear…for now.  A BP spokesman telling Fox News that “…he remains the CEO.”   This in response to a London Times report today saying he would be forced out in the coming weeks if the Gulf oil leak is resolved.

BP’s Robert Wine went on to say, “He has the full backing of the Board.”

In fact, though, according to many experts we’ve spoken with, the Hayward departure does seem likely.

“Hayward is going to go,” London oil analyst Nick MacGregor told us, if only because of the damage done to his reputation in the States.

“You can’t have someone representing you in your biggest market,” MacGregor went on to say, “If the President says he would’ve sacked you.”

For most it’s just a matter of timing.

“It won’t be announced until after the summer,” Tom Bower, author of  “Oil : Money, Politics and Power” told us.

The latest charges that BP tried to sway UK policy to allow the release of convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi only adds to Hayward’s problems.

It was Hayward’s signature on an oil exploration deal with Libya, which some say was eased by the terminally-ill Megrahi’s return to Libya.

The fact that Megrahi remains alive will, no doubt, be noted at next week’s congressional hearing.

This shocking headline ran in a UK blog today :

“Why Hayward Needs to Go and Megrahi Needs to Die.”

The always canny betting parlors here apparently know the score.  The “Paddy Power” firm is no longer taking bets on Hayward going.  It’s so obvious to them they’re already paying out customers who put money down on the exec’s departure.

The “odds” that Hayward will get more time soon to sail around the relatively clean waters off the English coast are getting better and better.