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Big Oil gets its first female CEO as women quietly rise to the top of the energy industry

Emma Hinchliffe
By
Emma Hinchliffe
Emma Hinchliffe
Most Powerful Women Editor
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Emma Hinchliffe
By
Emma Hinchliffe
Emma Hinchliffe
Most Powerful Women Editor
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December 18, 2025, 12:26 PM ET
Woodside Energy CEO Meg O'Neill speaks while seated on the sidelines of an energy conference.
The Woodside Energy CEO will become the new chief executive of BP, making her the first female CEO of a Big Oil giant.Nicky Loh—Bloomberg/Getty Images

Big news in the energy world yesterday: Big Oil will get its first female CEO.

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Meg O’Neill will become the new CEO of BP, effective April 1, Fortune‘s energy editor Jordan Blum reports. She had been the CEO of Woodside Energy for four years and was a longtime vet of Exxon Mobil, where she became an executive adviser to Rex Tillerson.

BP, with $195 billion in annual revenue, ranks No. 33 on the Global 500 and No. 5 on the Fortune 500 Europe. It’s headquartered in London.

As O’Neill steps into the massive role, she’s facing a bit of a glass cliff scenario. O’Neill is the energy producer’s fourth CEO in six years. CEOs have been in and out for a variety of reasons; one, Bernard Looney, left after failing to disclose a relationship with a colleague. Current CEO Murray Auchincloss stepped in after that incident.

On the business side, Looney had tried to transform BP into a green energy giant, with mixed results. As one analyst put it: the company “rather kind of drank a bit too much Kool Aid on the whole energy transition and neglected its core businesses.”

Energy is an industry that already has a few women at the top. Vicki Hollub (No. 90 on the 2025 Most Powerful Women list) has been CEO of Occidental Petroleum since 2016, which made her the first woman to lead a major American oil company. However, Oxy isn’t considered a Big Oil “supermajor”—those are just BP, Shell, Exxon Mobil, Chevron and TotalEnergies. That’s the glass ceiling O’Neill is breaking.

Until O’Neill takes over, BP’s caretaker is also a female exec; Carol Howle, BP’s executive vice president for supply, trading and shipping is set to serve as interim CEO. Woodside’s replacement for O’Neill is also a woman—Liz Westcott, EVP and COO Australia, as interim CEO.

Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com

The Most Powerful Women Daily newsletter is Fortune’s daily briefing for and about the women leading the business world. Subscribe here.

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PARTING WORDS

"I’m really convinced that we cannot be good at something we don’t like doing."

— Claire Isnard, Chanel's retiring chief people and chief organization officer, on why she's a believer in following your passion

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About the Author
Emma Hinchliffe
By Emma HinchliffeMost Powerful Women Editor
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Emma Hinchliffe is Fortune’s Most Powerful Women editor, overseeing editorial for the longstanding franchise. As a senior writer at Fortune, Emma has covered women in business and gender-lens news across business, politics, and culture. She is the lead author of the Most Powerful Women Daily newsletter (formerly the Broadsheet), Fortune’s daily missive for and about the women leading the business world.

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