BP appointed Meg O'Neill as its new chief executive officer, making her Big Oil's first female leader, as the company struggles to revive its fortunes after a botched pivot toward renewable energy. Bloomberg's David Stringer reports.

London

BP has appointed Meg O'Neill, a veteran fossil fuels executive and former CEO of Australia's Woodside, as its new chief executive officer. O'Neill is known for her extensive experience in the oil and gas industry, including over two decades at Exxon and a tenure at Woodside marked by major acquisitions and operational achievements.

Her appointment comes as BP aims to accelerate its strategic shift back to oil and natural gas, moving away from its previous focus on renewables. Investors have expressed concerns about the pace of BP's strategy, and O'Neill's proven track record in maximizing assets and driving rapid change is seen as a key factor in her selection.

BP appoints O'Neill as new CEO

Tell us then David about what we know about Meg O'Neill and what she's achieved at Woodside. Morning. Well yeah. Meg O'Neill may be an unfamiliar name to people in Europe to too many in the market and in London and those around BP. But she's she's incredibly well-known figure in Asia and particularly in Australia. Now a really experienced veteran fossil fuels executive 20 plus years at Exxon and a real focus on engineering and operations. She became the CEO of Woodside Australia's biggest oil and gas company in 2021. And since then her tenure has really been marked by operational excellence and ambition. You know she led a multi-billion acquisition of oil and gas assets from BHP. She even launched a pretty audacious attempt to acquire the biggest Australian rival ultimately walking away when the deal didn't represent value. But what we've seen is that combination of a really steady hand somewhat ambitious you know and also a really trenchant defender of the role of fossil fuels consistently talking about the fact that oil and particularly natural gas in her view likely to be needed for many many decades to come. OK. In the face of the climate crisis of course. What is going to be top of her in trade then David when she takes a helmet BP. Yeah quite well. I mean I know this the announcement itself may have been something of a surprise but I think as investors and others look at Meg O'Neill's track record they'll see the logic here for BP. You know if this is a company that is aiming to to really reset strategy to accelerate those plans to return to its roots to get to get back a focus on natural gas on oil. You know having sort of stepped away from that pivot under Bernard Looney towards renewables. You can see why Meg O'Neill is appealing. As I said she's very focused on the role of fossil fuels and she's proven herself very good at getting more out of existing assets and really thinking carefully about where to add new assets. She's also someone who's done a lot in a short space of time as the Woodside CEO. You know and if BP and investors like Elliott if their complaint is that strategy isn't moving fast enough then perhaps that's why O'Neill is a good fit.

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