By Stephanie Kelly and Shadia Nasralla
London — BP’s new CEO Meg O’Neill assumed office on Wednesday by offering consistency while accelerating the group’s performance, a year after the company pivoted its strategy firmly back to oil and gas, according to a staff note seen by Reuters.
O’Neill is BP’s fourth CEO since 2020 and its first external hire for the role in more than a century. She is the first woman to lead a top-five oil company.
Formerly of Australia’s Woodside Energy and Exxon Mobil, O’Neill arrives as BP seeks to move away from an ill-fated foray into renewables.
“I believe we can safely accelerate performance and drive innovation, sustainability and growth,” she said in the note to employees. “I’m committed to providing clear direction and consistency so we can move forward together with confidence.”
O’Neill joins chair Albert Manifold, who took up the role in October and has underscored the need to further reshape BP’s portfolio to boost profitability.
Activist investor Elliott Investment Management, one of BP’s biggest shareholders, has called on Manifold to address what it has called the company’s shortcomings.
Manifold issues
Manifold recently announced a leaner board — former Shell finance chief Simon Henry is among those departing — saying fewer directors would allow for faster decision-making and sharper oversight.
BP has cut billions of dollars from planned renewable energy projects, and pledged to divest $20bn of assets by 2027 and reduce debt and costs.
Net debt fell to $22bn from $26bn in the fourth quarter last year, and BP reiterated its target range of $14bn-$18bn by end-2027. The company suspended share buybacks in February to focus on cutting debt and refocusing investment on oil and gas projects.
O’Neill, a 55-year-old American from Boulder, Colorado, and the first openly gay woman to head a FTSE 100 company, had led Woodside since 2021 after spending 23 years at Exxon.
When she joined, there was investor concern about the company’s recent performance, share price and culture, said Saul Kavonic, head of energy research at MST Marquee and who has previously worked at Woodside.
“She made some really bold moves and fundamentally pivoted Woodside’s future. She moved Woodside’s future away from Australia towards North America,” Kavonic said.
Bold action
Under O’Neill’s leadership, Woodside merged with BHP Group’s petroleum arm to create a top 10 global independent oil and gas producer valued at $40bn and doubled Woodside’s oil and gas production.
The acquisition took the company to the US, where it embarked on a major Louisiana liquefied natural gas project.
BP spent more than 40% of its $16.2bn investment budget in the US in 2024 and plans to boost its output there to around 1-million barrels of oil equivalent a day (boed) by the end of the decade, while keeping overall production steady at around 2.4-million boed.
O’Neill succeeds Murray Auchincloss, who abruptly departed the role in December but will serve in an advisory position until December 2026. BP’s Carol Howle served as interim CEO.
O’Neill will receive a base salary of £1.6m, according to the company’s annual report in March.
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