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BP chief executive Murray Auchincloss is being replaced after less than two years in the role, with the oil and gas major appointing Woodside Energy boss Meg O’Neill as his successor.
Auchincloss would relinquish the top manager job immediately but remain at BP in an advisory capacity until the end of 2026, the UK company said on Wednesday. O’Neill, a former ExxonMobil executive, will start on April 1. Carol Howle, BP head of trading, will run the company in the interim.
Auchincloss’ departure follows the appointment of Albert Manifold as BP chair in July. “When Albert became chair, I expressed my openness to step down were an appropriate leader identified who could accelerate delivery of BP’s strategy,” he said.
O’Neill will become BP’s third chief executive in five years, during which time the company launched an unsuccessful and value-destroying attempt to transform itself into a green energy giant.
Auchincloss reversed the strategy pursued by his predecessor Bernard Looney, following pressure from activist investor Elliott Management, and refocused on BP’s core oil and gas operations.
BP’s share price has risen 5.6 per cent this year, despite a 20 per cent fall in the price of oil, making it the second best performing oil major behind Exxon.
Since he joined BP, Manifold has met top investors and instigated a strategic review of the company, and he is expected to unveil his initial findings in February.
Elliott Management was pleased with the appointment of O’Neill as BP chief executive, and taking it as a sign that the company was executing its turnaround plan under Manifold, according to a person familiar with the hedge fund’s thinking.
As the first outsider to lead BP in its 116-year history, O’Neill’s appointment was an indication that the company was pressing ahead with efforts to cut costs and reduce debt through asset sales, this person said.
O’Neill has been chief executive of Woodside, Australia’s largest oil and gas company, since 2021.
Manifold described her as having a “relentless focus on business improvement and financial discipline”.
He also said her appointment would give BP an opportunity to become a “simpler, leaner, more profitable company”, suggesting that it may significantly change shape over the coming years.
O’Neill has masterminded Woodside’s expansion in the US, acquiring struggling liquefied natural gas developer Tellurian last year for $1.2bn and declaring an ambition to make the company a “global LNG powerhouse”.
In April she approved a $17.5bn investment in an LNG terminal called Louisiana LNG, and months later clinched a deal with private equity firm Stonepeak to help fund the development on the Gulf coast.
During O’Neill’s tenure, however, Woodside’s share price has been flat, compared with a 47 per cent rise for BP during the same period.
The American oil executive, who was raised in Boulder, Colorado, began her career at Exxon in Houston, Texas.
She later worked for the company in Norway, Indonesia and Australia, and spent time as an adviser to the then Exxon chief executive Rex Tillerson.
O’Neill left Exxon in 2018 to join Woodside as chief operations officer, overseeing the company’s production assets.
Woodside said it had appointed Liz Westcott as acting chief executive, effective December 18.
Westcott has led Woodside’s Australian operations since joining in 2023 from Energy Australia.
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