BP’s sudden CEO swop is the shock investors wanted to see

LONDON – No warning, just a late-night revelation: BP was ousting its chief executive and filling the role with an outsider, vetted during a top secret process that only a handful of people even knew was happening.

The news came via a 10pm London time press release on Dec 17. That was when many senior company leaders found out about the move. 

Within minutes, there were chats and messages flying back and forth expressing surprise over Mr Murray Auchincloss’s sudden departure.

Mr Auchincloss had been in the chief executive role less than two years and just this February had unveiled a strategic reset. His replacement will be Ms Meg O’Neill, the company’s first external CEO hire in its 115-year-old history and a fossil-fuel enthusiast who underscores BP’s hard pivot back to oil and gas. 

Ms O’Neill has been given licence for a complete page-turn, along with a mandate to look at all aspects of the business afresh on their merits, according to a person familiar with the matter. A key focus will be the United States, the person said.

It is the kind of bold move many investors have been waiting for. 

BP has lagged behind rivals due to a combination of corporate disasters, war, lacklustre returns from its renewables efforts and some bad luck. That led to pressure from activist investor Elliott Investment Management, and a turnaround effort that has struggled to impress shareholders. So while staff inside BP were surprised by the sudden CEO change, outsiders see positive potential in the shakeup. 

“An external perspective is likely to facilitate a faster move, especially as it relates to culture, while the company pivots towards a greater focus on returns and production growth,” said Mr Joshua Stone, a UBS analyst. 

BP declined to comment on the CEO swop beyond its public statement. Chairman Albert Manifold said the move “creates an opportunity to accelerate our strategic vision to become a simpler, leaner, and more profitable company”. 

BP staff received a video from Mr Manifold and interim CEO Carol Howle discussing the news, said the people who asked not to be named because they were not authorised to talk publicly. Mr Auchincloss was given a cordial – if short – thank you. 

Rising star

Ms O’Neill is moving to BP from Woodside Energy Group, where she spent four years in the top job with a clear focus on fossil fuels, growing the company from an Australia-focused producer to a global liquefied natural gas (LNG) powerhouse. She previously spent more than two decades at Exxon Mobil, where she was one of the Texas oil giant’s rising stars.

It is the latest in a slew of leadership shifts over recent years, including the appointment of Mr Manifold as chairman in July after pressure from Elliott.

BP’s turmoil has been more than a decade in the making. Many point to 2010 as the start of the problems, when an explosion aboard the company’s Deepwater Horizon drilling rig killed 11 people and triggered the worst offshore oil spill in US history in the Gulf of Mexico. The company agreed to pay more than US$65 billion (S$83.9 billion) in fines and damages, and it is still paying about US$1 billion annually today. BP shed more than half its value after the disaster, and its market capitalisation has yet to recover.  

More hurdles ensued, including what Mr Auchincloss had dubbed as “misplaced” optimism over the pace of the energy transition that took the company “too far, too fast” into renewables and away from fossil fuels. There was also a bet on Russia that went awry in the wake of the war in Ukraine. 

Mr Manifold is said to view the US as a strategic priority for BP and was impressed at how Ms O’Neill grew Woodside’s operations there.

Pace of change

While BP staff are reeling, many analysts and investors were upbeat about the change. 

“O’Neill comes with the right background to deliver” on BP’s strategic return to oil and gas, said Mr Iain Pyle, senior investment director at Aberdeen Investments, a BP shareholder. “It’s a company that has always promoted from within, but given the push to accelerate the pace of change through the business an external view may well be helpful at this point.”

Ms O’Neill’s rise had been building for years.

Inside Woodside, current and former colleagues describe Ms O’Neill as analytically rigorous and intensely prepared. She has argued that pragmatism, not ambition alone, should determine which climate solutions survive. That approach underpinned her view that natural gas, particularly liquefied natural gas, is a long-term necessity for global energy. 

Early in her two-decade career at Exxon, she was designated as having “high potential”, indicating potential C-suite material. During her stint in Indonesia in the early 2000s managing LNG operations, she became known as a strong listener and collaborator. Her rising-star status was sealed when she kept gas flowing in the aftermath of the country’s devastating 2004 tsunami, according to a person familiar with her time at Exxon. She later led Exxon’s businesses in Canada and Norway and oversaw Asia-Pacific operations during the region’s LNG boom.  

Still, many BP staff are feeling tired out after years of strategic swings, leadership changes and performance challenges. The surprise factor this week did not help. 

Ms O’Neill has a long list of challenges ahead – a big one will be energising an exhausted workforce, one of the people said. BLOOMBERG