Meg O'Neill will take the reins as CEO of BP starting in April, as Murray Auchincloss steps down as CEO and board director effective Thursday.
Dec. 18 (UPI) — Meg O'Neill will take the reins as CEO of BP starting in April, as Murray Auchincloss steps down as CEO and board director effective Thursday.
Carol Howle, executive vice president of supply, trading and shipping of BP, will serve as interim CEO until O'Neill starts. Auchincloss will serve as an adviser until December 2026 to ensure a smooth transition.
O'Neill is CEO of Woodside Energy, where she has been since 2021. She has grown the company to the largest energy company on the Australian Securities Exchange. Before joining Woodside, she spent 23 years at ExxonMobil.
O'Neill is an American, raised in Boulder, Colo., and attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
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“We are delighted to welcome Meg O'Neill to the BP team,” said Albert Manifold, chair of BP in a statement. “Her proven track record of driving transformation, growth, and disciplined capital allocation makes her the right leader for bp. Her relentless focus on business improvement and financial discipline gives us high confidence in her ability to shape this great company for its next phase of growth and pursue significant strategic and financial opportunities.”
Stephen Isaacs, strategic advisor at Alvine Capital, told CNBC's Squawk Box Europe on Thursday that this could be “the last piece of the jigsaw” in getting its house in order.
“It rather kind of drank a bit too much Kool Aid on the whole energy transition and neglected its core businesses. … So I think [the replacement of the CEO is] a kind of confirmation that we're going to get back to basics. And I think that's pretty good for the stock,” Isaacs said.
O'Neill said she was excited to take the lead.
“I am honored to serve as the company's next CEO,” O'Neill said in a statement. “With an extraordinary portfolio of assets, BP has significant potential to reestablish market leadership and grow shareholder value. I look forward to working with the BP leadership team and colleagues worldwide to accelerate performance, advance safety, drive innovation and sustainability and do our part to meet the world's energy needs.”
