A new era at bp: will Meg O’Neill lead a high-stakes pivot to oil and gas?

In its quest for an improved market valuation and stability, supermajor bp has turned to one of the industry’s rising stars as its next CEO – Meg O’Neill – formerly Woodside Energy’s boss, where her stewardship of the company was widely lauded as a successful one in a cyclical industry.

When she took office at the beginning of April, O’Neill became the FTSE 100’s company fourth CEO in six years after Bob Dudley’s retirement in 2020. Dudley’s successor Bernard Looney left under a cloud. His expensive renewable energy forays often saw bp outbid competitors on ventures with uncertain margins and little prospect of near-term returns.

Looney’s exit three years later saw the company’s finance boss Murray Auchincloss elevated to the CEO’s office. Auchincloss assured the market that bp “can and will do better" and do “fewer things with higher returns” as the company started to pull away from renewables and refocus on traditional energy.

Bernard Looney’s exit in 2023 saw bp's finance boss Murray Auchincloss elevated to the CEO’s office. Auchincloss assured the market that bp “can and will do better" and do “fewer things with higher returns” as the company started to pull away from renewables and refocus on traditional energy. However, with pace of progress deemed slow by many, came Auchincloss’ departure in December 2025.

However, with pace of progress deemed slow by many, came Auchincloss’ departure in December 2025 and O’Neill’s arrival, as bp’s first female CEO, with a huge array of tasks to deal with. 

The new CEO’s growing in-tray

The incoming CEO has taken over a company whose investors have seen its share price chronically underperform. Especially so, when compared to its peer group stocks, and to the point of having to fight off takeover rumours and an activist investor last year.

But she’s accepted a challenge from Chairman Albert Manifold to make bp “a simpler, leaner and more profitable company” and focus on its core oil and gas business.

Operating fortune is on O’Neill’s side in achieving that mission, for now. The Middle East conflict, disruptions in the key maritime artery of the Strait of Hormuz, and the ongoing market volatility have resulted in an oil price spike in a year many were forecasting a glut and low prices.  

Additionally, relative to its ‘Big Oil’ peers, bp happens to be one of the supermajors that is least exposed to the Middle East crisis. It has reported very limited cargo volume hold ups through the Strait of Hormuz.

The company’s longstanding global trading arm, which regularly returns a profit, is also well placed to benefit from elevated oil prices with Brent having risen to as high as $120 per barrel at one point. The physical market disconnect has also recently seen spot markets – currently starved of Middle Eastern oil – demand as much as a $20 premium on the futures prices in high demand Asian energy hubs.

Sitting on major reserves 

The windfall will certainly help but the task ahead remains a huge one, especially on the investment and restructuring front. For starters, bp’s published proven reserves to cover around seven years of output. That’s the shortest of any global supermajor – a status that was questioned last year amid rumours of a takeover by Shell, subsequently denied by both companies.

But bp’s reasonably diversified upstream pipeline has great potential. In particular, the company’s Bumerangue discovery in Brazil’s offshore Santos basin, announced last year. The discovery potentially includes about 8 billion barrels of oil equivalent, that O’Neill, bp and its investors would be counting on. 

As oil and gas investments ramp up under the new CEO, divestment and strategic review of what the company now deems as non-core assets – largely renewables ventures – and its Castrol business will likely continue. But another challenge for O’Neill would be restructuring bp into Manifold’s “simpler and learner” version.

Restructuring into upstream and downstream

Its organisational structure has too many layers, plenty of overheads and units often offering questionable returns. bp currently has three main business units: gas and low carbon; oil production and operations; and customers and products. Looney was expected to change things but instead made it puffier upon assuming the CEO’s chair during the Covid pandemic years.

In an ideal scenario, O’Neill’s shift would likely entail a core upstream and downstream model, one that would be with complemented by bp’s profitable trading arm and perhaps a tighter, nimble and unexpansive low-to-zero carbon ventures outfit.

In an ideal scenario, O’Neill’s shift would likely entail a core upstream and downstream model, one that would be with complemented by bp’s profitable trading arm and perhaps a tighter, nimble and unexpansive low-to-zero carbon ventures outfit. Both Financial Times and Reuters confirmed that bp is planning to pursue this model of reorganising its business into ‌two main units – upstream and downstream – although there’s no set ​timeline yet for the new structure.

Such a reorganisation is easier said than done, but if anyone can it’s O’Neill.

Clues from Woodside Energy days

There should be no prizes for guessing why bp headhunted O’Neill. Some clues on how she may go about meeting such a challenge and realise ideas of her own may be found in her management of Woodside Energy.

Having spent over two decades at ExxonMobil, O’Neill was appointed CEO of Woodside Energy in 2021. By the time her departure for bp was announced December 2025, she’d grown Woodside into the largest energy company listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. Much of it was predicated on O’Neill’s ability to balance aggressive growth with fiscal discipline.

Whilst keeping a firm hand on finances, she oversaw Woodside’s growth from an Australia-focused hydrocarbon producer to a geographically diverse business with a commanding presence in the liquefied natural gas market, and a 2022 merger with BHP Petroleum.

Everyone from the equity to energy markets took notice, and her bp appointment has now followed. All eyes now would be on bp’s first quarterly results announcement under on O’Neill’s stewardship 28 April. The supermajor craves an industry captain who’ll bring stability, reset strategy and invest and divest wisely. O’Neill more than fits the description but would perhaps be the first to admit she has her work cut out.