BP names Meg O’Neill as new chief government as incumbent steps down

[ad_1] BP’s board has appointed its first feminine chief government in a bid to revive the oil firm’s fortunes, after ousting Murray Auchincloss lower than two years into his function.

In an surprising management shake-up Auchincloss will step down as chief government with quick impact, however stay in an advisory function till the tip of subsequent yr.

He will likely be succeeded by Meg O’Neill, a former ExxonMobil government and the pinnacle of Australian oil firm Woodside Vitality. Carol Howle, BP’s head of buying and selling, will run the corporate till O’Neill takes up the highest job in April.

The incoming oil boss will likely be BP’s first feminine chief government, and the primary girl to go any of the world’s prime 5 oil corporations. Her appointment additionally marks the primary time that BP has made an exterior rent to the highest job on the firm.

The shock appointment of BP’s third chief government in 5 years emerged simply weeks after BP appointed Albert Manifold to chair the board. Manifold changed Helge Lund who presided over the oil firm’s failed try to undertake a inexperienced vitality agenda.

The shake-up will likely be taken as an indication that the British oil agency is in search of a renewed push to enhance its enterprise, with its shares and earnings lagging behind rivals like ExxonMobil and Shell for years because it pursued inexperienced vitality initiatives on the expense of rising its oil and gasoline manufacturing.

BP’s inexperienced technique was set by its earlier boss, Bernard Looney, who was appointed by Lund in 2020 to rework the enterprise into an built-in vitality firm. Nonetheless, the transition was undermined by an increase in international oil and gasoline costs, in addition to the shock departure of Looney in 2023.

Auchincloss blamed the corporate’s “misplaced” optimism over the pace of the vitality transition earlier this yr and promised shareholders that he would “basically reset” BP by slashing billions in deliberate renewable vitality initiatives and shifting its focus again to conventional oil and gasoline.

Manifold, mentioned: “Progress has been made lately, however elevated rigour and diligence are required to make the mandatory transformative adjustments to maximise worth for our shareholders.”

O’Neill, who has headed Woodside since 2021, beforehand spent 23 years at ExxonMobil. Below her management, Woodside merged with BHP Group’s petroleum arm to create a prime 10 international impartial oil and gasoline producer valued at $40bn (£30bn) and doubled Woodside’s oil and gasoline manufacturing.

“With a rare portfolio of belongings, BP has vital potential to re-establish market management and develop shareholder worth,” mentioned O’Neill.

Auchincloss will depart the corporate on Thursday. BP had not publicly introduced a search course of for his successor earlier than it flagged his departure late on Wednesday night.

“That is clearly a high-profile rent, and possibly among the change that BP shareholders have been searching for,” mentioned Dan Pickering, chief funding officer at Pickering Vitality Companions.