How BP’s New Boss Became the Most Powerful Woman in Fossil Fuels

Meg O'Neill following a Woodside shareholder meeting in Perth in May. Photo by Matt Jelonek /Photographer: Matt Jelonek/Bloom

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(Bloomberg) — Meg O’Neill’s rapid rise to the top of one of the world’s biggest fossil-fuel companies has been unencumbered by doubt. At a moment when oil executives are still being pressed to move away from hydrocarbons, she has a different argument: that the world is nowhere near done with them.

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So when BP Plc stunned markets by naming an external chief executive officer for the first time, the choice of O’Neill signaled more than a leadership change. It marked a recalibration for BP, bruised by a failed pivot toward renewable energy, years of uneven financial performance, and pressure from activist investor Elliott Investment Management to return the company to its core oil and gas focus. 

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O’Neill, who has led Australian oil and gas giant Woodside Energy Group Ltd. since 2021, arrives with a reputation for operational rigor and a belief that natural gas, particularly liquefied natural gas, is a long-term necessity. To supporters, she is exactly the leader BP needs. To critics, she represents an industry choosing regression over reinvention.

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“Her appointment as CEO seems well-aligned with BP’s reversal from green energy back to core oil and gas profitability,” said Susan Sakmar, a University of Houston Law Center visiting assistant professor and expert on the oil and gas market. “Good news for BP.” 

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She takes on her new role amid a wider political split over energy. US President Donald Trump’s revived “drill, baby, drill” mantra and promises to roll back years of climate rules that, he argues, drove up energy costs have led to a renewed emphasis on oil and gas. And while Asian consumers are hungry for more fossil fuels, BP in Europe faces a different reality of tougher carbon-reduction mandates, stricter disclosure rules and regulatory pressures to show progress toward cutting emissions. 

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O’Neill will have to navigate both worlds at once.

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Inside Woodside, current and former colleagues describe O’Neill as analytically rigorous and intensely prepared. Self-described as outspoken, she pushes teams to think decades ahead rather than fixate on near-term volatility, according to people familiar with her management style who asked not to be identified.

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O’Neill has argued that pragmatism, not ambition alone, should determine which climate solutions survive. Under her watch, Woodside doubled oil and gas output, leaned aggressively into seaborne LNG, and shelved lower-carbon projects that failed to clear commercial hurdles. “We should prioritize measures that deliver the biggest bang for buck,” she told a room of mining executives at the Melbourne Mining Club in February.

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The following month, in an interview with Bloomberg TV, O’Neill remained undeterred. “Many nations have aspirations to grow renewables,” she said. “They’re going to need more gas to partner with those renewables.” Woodside expects LNG demand to grow 50% over the next decade, she added.