Woodside Energy’s Meg O’Neill, who criticised ‘zealous’ young climate activists, moves to BP | Woodside
Woodside Energy chief executive Meg O’Neill, who has previously criticized young people for taking an “ideological” stance against fossil fuels, will step down as chairman of the Australian gas giant after being chosen to lead one of the world’s biggest emitters.
BP, which abandoned its net-zero emissions strategy and returned to fossil fuels earlier this year, 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 chief executive in 2021. Richard Goyder, president of Woodside, He said the company’s strong performance under O’Neill has “translated” into nearly $11 billion in dividends paid to shareholders since 2022.
Goyder said O’Neill left Woodside “in a strong position, leading the company’s merger with BHP Petroleum, the final investment decision on the Scarborough energy project and the launch of the Sangomar project.” [and] Final investment decision for Louisiana LNG project”.
According to company documents, the sale and burning of Woodside gas, which is mostly sent abroad, caused the release of 74 million tons of CO2 in 2024.
Scientists examining the climate impact of the $16.5 billion Scarborough project found that the project could expose more than half a million people to unprecedented heat. In April, the company announced it would spend $18 billion on the Louisiana LNG project, which climate advocates warned would “export harmful gases into the 2070s.”
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During his 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 over Woodside’s fossil fuel projects.
O’Neill criticized young people who are ideologically opposed to fossil fuels, suggesting it was hypocritical for them to order cheap consumer goods online “without any consideration for 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 debate, especially among young people who have a very ideological, almost fervent view that fossil fuels are bad and renewables are good, happily plugging in their devices, ordering things to eat.” [online fast-fashion stores] Shein and Temu, you know, get a little something sent to their home without the energy and carbon impact of their actions being noticed.
“So human impact and the role of the consumer in driving energy demand and emissions is definitely a missing area in the discussion.”
In February, a group of climate activists were fined for disrupting a protest at O’Neill’s family home in Perth.
In O’Neill’s final months as CEO, Woodside managed to lobby the Albanian government to extend the controversial North West Shelf gas project for another 40 years, until 2070.
Two groups have filed separate legal challenges to the North West Shelf extension, one of the world’s largest liquefied natural gas projects.
BP has announced it will appoint O’Neill as chief executive from 1 April next year following the departure of Murray Auchincloss.
In February, the British oil and gas giant signaled a major shift in strategy from green targets to increasing fossil fuel production.
BP has announced it will increase its oil and gas investment to $10bn (£7.9bn) a year and cut more than $5bn from its previous green investment plan.
At the time, Auchincloss said optimism about a rapid green energy transition was “misplaced.”
Woodside appointed Liz Westcott as acting CEO, effective Thursday. Westcott will start with an annual salary of $1.803 million, including retirement, Woodside said in a note to shareholders.
