Meg O’Neill, the Woodside Energy CEO who has previously criticised young people for taking an “ideological” stance against fossil fuels, will step down as head of the Australian gas giant after being tapped to lead one of the world’s biggest emitters.
BP, which earlier this year broke from its net zero emissions strategy and pivoted back to fossil fuels, announced on Thursday that it had appointed O’Neill as chief executive.
O’Neill joined Australia’s largest oil and gas company in 2018 and was appointed as chief executive in 2021. Woodside’s chair, Richard Goyder, said the company’s strong performance under O’Neill’s leadership had been “translated” into approximately $11bn in dividends paid to shareholders since 2022.
Goyder said O’Neill left Woodside “in a strong position, having led the company through the merger with BHP Petroleum, final investment decision on the Scarborough energy project, startup of the Sangomar project [and] final investment decision for the Louisiana LNG project”.
The sale and burning of Woodside’s gas, which is mostly shipped overseas, emitted 74m tonnes of CO2 in 2024, according to company documents.
Scientists examining the climate impact of the $16.5bn Scarborough project have found it could expose more than half a million people to unprecedented heat. In April, the company announced it was spending $18bn on the Louisiana LNG project, one which climate advocates warn “would export harmful gas until the 2070s”.
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During her time in the top job at Australia’s largest ASX-listed oil and gas producer, O’Neill shrugged off criticism from climate activists and shareholders – including those who protested at successive annual general meetings about Woodside’s fossil fuel projects.
O’Neill has criticised young people who are ideologically opposed to fossil fuels, suggesting it was hypocritical for them to order cheap online consumer goods “without any sort of recognition of the energy and carbon impact of their actions”.
At the gas industry’s annual conference in May, O’Neill said: “It’s been a fascinating journey to watch the discussion, particularly amongst young people who have this very ideological, almost zealous view of, you know, fossil fuels bad, renewables good, that are happily plugging in their devices, ordering things from [online fast-fashion stores] Shein and Temu – having, you know, one little thing shipped to their house without any sort of recognition of the energy and carbon impact of their actions.
“So that human impact and the consumer’s role in driving energy demand and emissions absolutely is a missing space in the conversation.”
In February, a group of climate activists were fined over a foiled protest at O’Neill’s family home in Perth.
During O’Neill’s final months as CEO, Woodside was successful in lobbying the Albanese government to extend its controversial North West Shelf gas project for an additional 40 years, until 2070.
Two groups have filed separate legal challenges to the North West Shelf extension, one of the world’s biggest liquified natural gas projects.
BP announced that it would appoint O’Neill as its chief executive officer from 1 April next year, after the exit of Murray Auchincloss.
In February, the British oil and gas giant signalled a major strategy shift away from green ambitions in favour of ramping up fossil fuel production.
BP announced it would increase its investment in oil and gas to US$10bn (£7.9bn) a year while slashing more than US$5bn from its previous green investment plan.
At the time, Auchincloss said that optimism for a fast green energy transition had been “misplaced”.
Woodside has appointed Liz Westcott as acting CEO, effective from Thursday. Westcott will commence on an annual salary of $1.803m including superannuation, Woodside said in its note to shareholders.
