Meg O’Neill: ‘hard-nosed’ outsider who will head BP’s pivot away from green energy

Meg O’Neill, 55, says coming out as a gay woman in the oil industry had its ‘ups and downs’. Photograph: BP/Reuters

The surprise appointment of BP’s third chief executive in a tumultuous five years reflects the embattled fossil fuel producer’s need for profound change. The hiring of Meg O’Neill appears to offer exactly that.

The 55-year-old from Boulder, Colorado, is the first female head of a major oil company, and the first “outsider” to be hired to a position usually reserved for company veterans. She joins from the Australian oil and gas company Woodside, where she took up her first chief executive role only four years ago.