Meg O'Neill

Meg O'Neill
Born	Marguerite Eileen O'Neill born 1970
Birthplace	Boulder, Colorado, United States
Nationality	American
Occupation	Business executive
Title	Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Woodside Energy (2021–2026); incoming CEO, BP (from April 2026)
Known for	CEO and Managing Director of Woodside Energy; incoming CEO of BP
Education	Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Spouse(s)	Vicky Hayes
Children	1
Awards	Forbes Australia cover feature (2023)

Marguerite Eileen "Meg" O'Neill (born c. 1970–1971) is an American business executive who has served as the chief executive officer and managing director of Woodside Energy, Australia's largest independent oil and gas company, since 2021. In December 2025, BP announced that O'Neill had been appointed as the company's next chief executive officer, effective 1 April 2026, making her the first woman to lead a major global oil company. Born in Boulder, Colorado, O'Neill built a career spanning more than three decades in the global energy industry, holding senior positions at ExxonMobil before joining Woodside Energy in 2018. Under her leadership at Woodside, the company completed a transformative merger with BHP's petroleum division and advanced major liquefied natural gas projects. Her appointment to lead BP — a company with a 117-year history — was announced amid significant strategic questions facing the London-based supermajor, and it positioned O'Neill as one of the most prominent figures in the international energy sector.

Early Life

Meg O'Neill was born Marguerite Eileen O'Neill in Boulder, Colorado, around 1970 or 1971. She grew up in Colorado, a state with a significant connection to the energy industry. According to profiles published in the Australian Financial Review and The West Australian, O'Neill developed an early interest in travel and the broader world, interests that would eventually draw her toward an international career in the oil and gas sector.

O'Neill has spoken publicly about how her curiosity about the world and desire to work internationally shaped her career choices. Her upbringing in Boulder — a university town known for its academic environment at the base of the Rocky Mountains — provided a foundation that led her toward engineering and the sciences. The combination of intellectual ambition and a desire to see the world would eventually guide her into the petroleum industry, where assignments frequently take professionals to remote and international locations.

Education

O'Neill attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), one of the leading engineering and science institutions in the United States. Her engineering education at MIT provided the technical grounding that underpinned her career in the upstream oil and gas industry. The rigour of an MIT education, combined with the institution's emphasis on problem-solving and analytical thinking, equipped O'Neill with the skills to navigate the technically demanding world of energy exploration and production. O'Neill has been identified by various sources as holding an engineering background, which served as her entry point into the petroleum industry during the early 1990s.

Career

ExxonMobil

O'Neill spent approximately 25 years at ExxonMobil, one of the world's largest publicly traded oil and gas companies, where she held a series of progressively senior roles across the organisation's global operations. Her tenure at ExxonMobil took her to multiple countries, fulfilling her early aspiration for international work. During her time at the company, she gained experience across various aspects of the upstream oil and gas business, including exploration, development, and production operations.

O'Neill's career at ExxonMobil included assignments in technically and operationally challenging environments. She rose through the ranks of one of the most hierarchical and process-driven companies in the energy sector, a trajectory that required sustained performance over many years. Her experience at ExxonMobil gave her deep familiarity with large-scale capital projects, joint ventures, and the complex regulatory environments that characterise the global petroleum industry.

By the time she departed ExxonMobil, O'Neill had accumulated significant executive experience in managing large upstream portfolios. Her time at the American supermajor provided the operational and strategic expertise that would later prove central to her appointment at Woodside Energy.

Woodside Energy

Appointment and early tenure

O'Neill joined Woodside Energy in 2018, initially serving as the company's executive vice president and chief operations officer. Her arrival at Woodside — headquartered in Perth, Western Australia — represented a significant transition from the American corporate environment of ExxonMobil to the Australian energy sector. Woodside, as Australia's largest independent oil and gas company, operates major liquefied natural gas (LNG) assets and exploration acreage across Australia and internationally.

In April 2021, O'Neill was appointed acting chief executive officer and managing director following the departure of Peter Coleman, who had led the company since 2011. She was subsequently confirmed in the role on a permanent basis, becoming the first woman to lead Woodside. Her elevation to the top role came at a pivotal moment for the company, as Woodside was in the process of negotiating a transformative merger with BHP's petroleum division, one of the largest corporate transactions in Australian history.

Merger with BHP Petroleum

One of the defining achievements of O'Neill's tenure as Woodside CEO was the completion of the merger with BHP's petroleum business. The transaction, which had been under discussion before O'Neill assumed the top role, was finalised in 2022 and created a significantly larger entity — Woodside Energy Group Ltd — with an expanded portfolio of oil, gas, and LNG assets across Australia and internationally.

The merger approximately doubled Woodside's production capacity and gave the combined entity a more diversified portfolio of assets. The deal was structured as a share-based merger, with BHP shareholders receiving Woodside shares in exchange for the petroleum division. Managing the integration of two large organisations with different corporate cultures and operational practices was a major undertaking. O'Neill led the post-merger integration process, working to capture synergies while maintaining operational performance across the enlarged portfolio.

Major projects and strategic direction

Under O'Neill's leadership, Woodside advanced several major capital projects. The company pursued the development of its Scarborough gas field and the associated Pluto Train 2 LNG processing facility in Western Australia, projects that together represented tens of billions of dollars in capital investment. These projects were central to Woodside's long-term growth strategy and reflected the company's commitment to expanding its LNG production capacity to meet anticipated global demand.

O'Neill also oversaw Woodside's approach to carbon management and the energy transition debate. The company pursued carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology as part of its emissions reduction strategy, a position that attracted both support from industry advocates and criticism from environmental groups. O'Neill served as chair of the Australian Energy Producers (AEP), the peak industry body formerly known as the Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association (APPEA), where she represented the industry's interests in policy discussions with government and the public.

The scale of Woodside's investment programme under O'Neill was characterised by the Australian Financial Review as a "$100 billion gamble," reflecting the magnitude of the capital commitments the company made under her leadership and the inherent uncertainty in long-cycle energy projects.

Activism and public scrutiny

O'Neill's leadership of Woodside also brought her into direct contact with environmental activism. In February 2025, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported that climate protesters had planned to damage O'Neill's home as a publicity stunt, an incident that highlighted the increasingly personal nature of activism directed at fossil fuel executives in Australia. The incident underscored the polarised environment in which energy executives operate, particularly in Australia, where debates over fossil fuel development, climate policy, and Indigenous land rights intersect with major resource projects.

Appointment as BP CEO

On 17 December 2025, BP announced that its board had appointed O'Neill as the company's next chief executive officer, effective 1 April 2026. The appointment made O'Neill the first woman to serve as CEO of a major global oil company, a milestone noted extensively in international media coverage.

O'Neill was appointed to succeed Murray Auchincloss, who had served less than two years in the role. As CNBC noted, O'Neill became BP's fourth CEO in six years, a period of significant strategic turbulence at the company. BP had undergone a high-profile strategic pivot under Bernard Looney, who committed the company to a rapid energy transition before his departure in 2023. Under Auchincloss, BP had begun to reverse some of those commitments, and O'Neill's appointment was seen by analysts and commentators as a signal that BP would continue to refocus on its core oil and gas operations.

El País described O'Neill as stepping into the role "with the task of reversing its investments in renewable energies in recent years," reflecting the expectation that she would bring a more traditional oil and gas focus to BP's strategy. The Society of Petroleum Engineers noted that O'Neill's track record at Woodside — particularly the BHP merger and the advancement of major LNG projects — demonstrated the kind of large-scale operational and deal-making experience that BP's board sought in its new leader.

Compensation

In March 2026, BP disclosed that O'Neill would receive a base salary of £1.6 million ($2.1 million), 2.5% higher than that of her predecessor. The Guardian reported that O'Neill's total compensation package would amount to at least £11.7 million in her first year, more than double the total pay of her predecessor, a figure that attracted public attention given ongoing debates about executive remuneration in the energy sector.

Personal Life

O'Neill is married to Vicky Hayes. The couple has one child. O'Neill relocated to Perth, Western Australia, when she joined Woodside Energy in 2018, and she has spoken in interviews about the experience of establishing a life in Australia after a career spent largely in the United States and in international postings with ExxonMobil.

In addition to her corporate roles, O'Neill has been involved in a number of board and community positions in Western Australia. She has served on the board of Reconciliation Western Australia, an organisation focused on advancing reconciliation between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and the broader Australian community. She has also served on the board of the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, reflecting her engagement with the cultural life of Perth.

The planned action by climate protesters to damage O'Neill's home in early 2025 drew significant media attention and raised questions about the safety of energy industry executives and the boundaries of protest activity.

Recognition

O'Neill's career has attracted significant recognition within the energy industry and the broader business community. She was featured on the cover of Forbes Australia, which profiled her leadership journey from her early career to the Woodside-BHP merger, under the headline "Modelling to mergers: Meg O'Neill's leadership lessons."

She has been a featured speaker at the National Press Club of Australia, where she addressed topics related to energy policy, the role of natural gas in the global energy mix, and Australia's position as a major LNG exporter.

Her appointment as CEO of BP was described by Fortune as a historic milestone, making her "the first-ever woman CEO of a Big Oil giant." Reuters characterised the appointment as O'Neill "making history" in an industry that has been overwhelmingly led by men since its inception. The significance of the appointment was noted across international media, with coverage in outlets including CNBC, El País, Bloomberg, The Guardian, and the Journal of Petroleum Technology.

O'Neill's election as chair of Australian Energy Producers (formerly APPEA) also placed her in a prominent industry leadership role, representing the Australian oil and gas sector in policy and public discourse.

Legacy

As of early 2026, O'Neill's legacy remains actively in formation, with her tenure at BP yet to begin. Her impact at Woodside Energy, however, has already been substantial. The merger with BHP's petroleum division fundamentally reshaped the company, creating one of the world's largest independent energy companies by production volume. The advancement of major LNG projects under her leadership positioned Woodside for long-term growth in the global gas market, though the ultimate success of those investments will depend on project execution and future energy market conditions.

O'Neill's appointment to lead BP carries broader significance for the energy industry. As the first woman to serve as CEO of one of the so-called "supermajors" — the small group of the world's largest publicly traded oil and gas companies — her elevation to the role represents a break from more than a century of exclusively male leadership at the highest levels of the petroleum industry.

The strategic choices O'Neill makes at BP will be closely watched. The company has experienced significant strategic shifts in recent years, moving from an aggressive energy transition strategy under Bernard Looney to a partial reversal under Murray Auchincloss. O'Neill arrives with a reputation built on executing large-scale oil and gas projects and completing major corporate transactions, and analysts have noted that her background suggests a likely emphasis on operational discipline and returns from core hydrocarbon assets.

Her career trajectory — from an engineering education at MIT, through a quarter-century at ExxonMobil, to leading Australia's largest oil and gas company, and now to heading one of the world's largest energy companies — charts a path through some of the most significant institutions in the global petroleum industry. Whether her tenure at BP will be defined by continuity with traditional oil and gas strategy or by a new synthesis of fossil fuel production and energy transition investment remains to be seen.