Meg O Neill become First Woman to lead BP as Chief Executive

By: WE staff | Thursday, 18 December 2025

• BP has named Meg O’Neill its chief executive
• She is the first woman to head a large international oil company
• Mr. O’Neill was previously the chief executive of the Australia-based Woodside Energy Group

BP has nominated Meg O’Neill to be the next chief executive of the firm, making her the first female leader of one of the world’s largest oil companies. This follows a period when the firm faced difficulties related to its focus on renewable energy sources.

Meg, a US executive and ex-chief executive of Australia-based Woodside Energy Group, is set to replace Murray Auchincloss starting April, according to a statement released by BP on December 17. In the meantime, Carol Howle is appointed as acting chief executive.

The change in leadership comes at a time when BP is continuing to trail behind its peers in performance, which has been attributed to operational difficulties, disruptions triggered by geopolitics, subpar financial returns on low-carbon businesses, and pressure from activist investor Elliott Investment Management.

BP's current restructuring plan focuses on upstream activities, with lower crude oil prices being an added problem.

Since 2021, Meg has been with Woodside, where she acquired the petroleum industry of BHP Group and also enhanced the liquefied natural gas business of the organization globally.

In addition, she advocated for the use of natural gas as a transition fuel, which would reduce the use of coal. Meg previously worked with ExxonMobil for more than two decades.

Elliott has been providing continued pressure against BP and its recently announced strategy reset plans by Auchincloss made in February, which included his desire to lower debt and improve BP's financial stability through the sale of assets. Since this time, BP has publicly made limited divestment of properties.

In July, BP chose Albert Manifold to be its chairman due to shareholder requests. Additionally, Auchincloss has expressed that he is open to resigning if a suitable replacement can be located to expedite the company's current strategy.

Meg also acquired an LNG project in Louisiana and received permits to keep operating one more of Woodside's Australian LNG plants until 2070 during her time with Woodside.

In the time that Meg was with Woodside, the stock price increased approximately 10 percent while it was outperforming local competitors but dropped as much as 2.6 percent on December 18 after she left. Woodside has appointed Liz Westcott as the Acting Chief Executive Officer.