Just shy of completing two years at the helm of BP in January, Murray Auchincloss has decided to step down from his position at the British oil company. As part of the transition process, the 55-year-old executive will serve as a consultant for the company until December 2026.

The move was announced on Thursday, December 18th. The company announced Meg O'Neill as the executive's replacement, effective April 1st, 2026. It also informed that, until then, Carol Howle, the current vice president of supply, trading, and shipping, will serve as interim CEO.

“After more than three decades at BP, the time has come to pass the baton to a new leader,” Auchincloss said in a statement. “I am confident that BP is well positioned for significant growth and I look forward to the company’s future progress and success under Meg’s leadership.”

The new CEO stated that "it is an honor to assume the role of CEO of the company. With an extraordinary portfolio of assets, BP has significant potential to re-establish market leadership and increase shareholder value."

BP reported that O'Neill's selection was the result of a selection process overseen by a committee of its board of directors. In July, Auchincloss had communicated his decision to Albert Manifold, who had just assumed the chairmanship of the board .

In the statement announcing the leadership change, Manifold stated that, following a comprehensive succession planning process, the board believes this transition creates an opportunity for BP to accelerate its strategic vision of becoming a simpler, leaner, and more profitable company.

"There has been progress in recent years, but greater rigor and diligence are needed to implement the transformative changes necessary to maximize value for our shareholders," said the chairman of the board.

Manifold also highlighted O'Neill's proven track record in leading transformations, growth, and disciplined capital allocation, emphasizing that this profile makes her the ideal leader for the company.

Before accepting her new position, O'Neill completed a nearly eight-year stint at Woodside Energy – the last three as CEO. She also spent 23 years at ExxonMobil, in various roles in countries such as the United States, Indonesia, Canada, and Norway.

When she takes office in April 2026, she will become the fourth person to lead BP in just over six years, including her predecessor, interim CEO Carol Howle. Similarly, some strategic shifts help explain this game of musical chairs at the oil company.

It was Bernard Looney who started this countdown. The executive was appointed CEO in February 2020 and set as a priority making BP a green energy giant, which translated into the goal of reducing carbon emissions to zero by 2050 or even before that deadline.

However, Looney resigned from his position in September 2023, following a series of controversies involving past personal relationships with some of his colleagues. At the time, BP stated in a press release that the executive was not "fully transparent" on this matter.

Before that, the thesis championed by Looney had already been losing momentum. After the worst phase of the pandemic, countries resumed consuming fossil fuels and, in this context, the company began reporting, quarter after quarter, results lower than those recorded by other major oil companies.

This strategy began to be recalculated precisely with the arrival of Auchincloss in January 2024. And the return of oil and gas operations to the list of priorities was largely fueled by pressure exerted by the activist fund Elliott Management.

This turnaround by BP materialized in goals such as expanding its global oil and gas production to the range of 2.3 million to 2.5 million barrels per day by 2030. And in the plan to achieve US$20 billion in divestments by 2027, a large part of which is linked to the previous clean energy thesis.

After some bumpy roads, BP has been showing signs of recovery in the capital markets. Its shares were down 1.17% on the London Stock Exchange around 4 pm (local time) on Thursday, the 18th. But they are up almost 8% year-to-date in 2025, giving the company a market value of £64.3 billion (approximately R$474 billion).