Woodside CEO Meg O’Neill resigns to run global oil giant BP

Woodside chief executive Meg O’Neill is leaving Australia’s largest oil and gas producer to take up a new job as boss of global energy major BP.

O’Neill has been appointed to succeed Murray Auchincloss on April 1 as the chief executive of London-based BP, one of the world’s biggest energy companies.

“Her proven track record of driving transformation, growth, and disciplined capital allocation makes her the right leader for BP,” said BP chair Albert Manifold in a statement.

Meg O’Neill has led Woodside since 2021. Now she’s moving on.Credit: Trevor Collens

Woodside on Thursday said Liz Westcott, who runs the company’s Australian operations, would take over as acting chief executive until a successor was found.

O’Neill has been the head of the Perth-based oil and gas giant since 2021. Before joining the company in 2018, she worked for ExxonMobil for 23 years. She has steered Woodside through a period of major growth, including placing significant bets on ongoing global appetite for fossil fuels, even as the world tackles climate change.

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Under her leadership, Woodside completed its acquisition of BHP’s global petroleum division, started producing oil at the Sangomar field in Senegal, and made final investment decisions to develop the Scarborough gas project in Western Australia and construct a $27 billion liquefied gas export terminal in the United States.

O’Neill said was “honoured” to serve as BP’s next chief executive, and was looking “forward to working with the BP leadership team and colleagues worldwide to accelerate performance, advance safety, drive innovation and sustainability and do our part to meet the world’s energy needs”.

More to come

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