Photo: Gerald Herbert/AP

Today is the one year anniversary of the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig, which caused the deaths of 11 people and the largest oil spill in U.S. history. BP and its CEO Bob Dudley have used the anniversary to speak to the developments over the past year and to express the company’s ongoing regret over the spill.

The BP homepage has a message from Dudley front and center, with a longer column written by the chief exec published in today’s Wall Street Journal that talks about the funding BP has chipped in to correct the problems caused by the spill, increased safety measures implemented, and new experts that have been brought on board to ensure that an accident doesn’t happen again. A video on the BP site also discusses what has happened over the past year.

We recently reported that BP’s reputation, while still pretty bad, appears to be on the upswing. BP’s efforts may deserve part of the credit. But other forces seem to be aiding the oil giant in its reputation recovery.

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New Orleans cleans up after Mardi Gras. Photo: Patrick Semansky / AP

As of October 2010, BP‘s CEO Bob Dudley was talking about rebuilding the company’s reputation after the Gulf oil spill. Though we may be feeling the ill-effects of this horrible, tremendous disaster for the foreseeable future, people are starting to feel better about BP for some reason.

According to YouGov BrandIndex, BP’s buzz score rose nearly 12 points between January and February 2011, handing it the top spot for biggest buzz improvement of the month. Sentiment surrounding the company is still negative at -15.7. But, according to BrandIndex, BP’s buzz score was -67.2 last June.

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Speaking with business leaders in London, BP chief executive Bob Dudley said the company has learned lessons from the massive Gulf oil spill and, oh, yeah, they’re going to keep drilling.

According to the BBC, Dudley’s speech came with a vow to rebuild BP’s reputation. To that end, Dudley went on to take credit for things that it did after the spill as part of its response for the spill it caused.

“The first thing to say is that we have stopped the leak and made huge progress in cleaning up the spill,” the BBC quotes Dudley saying. Like, he actually said that.

“Second, our containment and clean-up efforts have gotten results,” he added. “Third, we are meeting our commitments as a responsible party of this accident.” (Notice: “a” responsible party, rather than “the” responsible party.)

Dudley then reaffirmed the company’s commitment to the U.S. by saying that the company is part of the “American community” and will return to its drilling operations as soon as it’s allowed.

It’s been many months filled with angry outpourings from government and concerned citizens and these statements still don’t acknowledge the magnitude of the spill, the company’s role, or why people are angry. BP has to do better.

BP’s gaffe-prone CEO, Tony Hayward, could be out the door as soon as today, according to reports. The company has declined to comment on the potential management shake up, which would place Mississippi-born Bob Dudley into the role of chief executive.

Of course, many media outlets can’t resist noting that Hayward may now “have his life back” as the CEO publicly wished in early June. The question is: will the change help improve BP’s image?

RELATED: Rahm Emanuel Advises Against PR Career for BP’s Tony Hayward

As the situation in the Gulf Coast continues to get more challenging, how have the media responded in terms of reporters covering the story live from the region?

They’re all over the story, and the executives involved keep giving them tons of fodder. Take this quote today from BP CEO Tony Hayward to the Guardian:

The Gulf of Mexico is a very big ocean. The amount of volume of oil and dispersant we are putting into it is tiny in relation to the total water volume.

Wow.

BP’s PR and other woes aside, PRNewser reached out to Fox News, CNN, NBC News, ABC News and CBS News as to their current and past coverage plans. Here’s what they told us.

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