Embattled BP made a dramatic CEO change Wednesday as it hired Woodside Energy leader Meg O’Neill as the first-ever woman CEO of a Big Oil giant.
O’Neill is a Colorado native and Exxon Mobil veteran who grew Australia’s Woodside into a much bigger global natural gas player with expansions into the U.S. She is taking over the British energy behemoth at a time when it has fallen behind the other global oil and gas supermajors and was even a potential takeover target earlier this year by rival Shell.
Current BP CEO Murray Auchincloss is stepping down immediately on Thursday but will serve in an advisory role through all of 2026, BP announced. Auchincloss was hardly considered the top candidate to lead BP, but the former chief financial officer was thrust into the role in late 2023 when then-CEO Bernard Looney was abruptly forced to resign over relationships with colleagues.
Since then, Auchincloss has led a “hard reset” to cut costs, double down on fossil fuels, and take several steps back from its ambitious renewable energy goals. BP was targeted by activist investor Elliott Investment Management, which took a nearly 5% stake in the company early this year, as the Shell merger rumors escalated.
