BP’s new boss will take home at least £11.7m this year, more than double her predecessor

The incoming chief executive of BP will take home at least £11.7m this year after joining the embattled oil company from a rival, more than double the pay packet earned by her predecessor.Meg O’Neill will join BP from the Australian oil company Woodside Energy in April as the company’s first external hire to its top job, and the first woman to serve as chief executive at the 117-year-old oil major.The former ExxonMobil executive will earn a base salary of £1.6m, narrowly above the salary paid to her predecessor, Murray Auchincloss, but the bulk of her pay packet will be payments made by BP to compensate O’Neill for the share awards she was in line to receive over the next five years in her previous role.BP will pay £8.3m to cover the performance share awards that were due to vest in 2027 and 2028, and a further £1.8m to cover the expected value of share awards that were due to vest in 2029, 2030 and 2031.The £11.7m payday is more than double the £5.3m pay packet earned by Auchincloss, who left the role of chief executive late last year after less than two years in the job. O’Neill could take home even more if she receives performance-related bonuses on top of this.However, without the one-off compensation windfall, her future pay is likely to be lower.The former chief financial officer officially stepped into the role in January 2024 after serving as the interim boss following the abrupt exit of the former chief executive Bernard Looney in September 2023. Auchincloss was replaced by Carol Howle, BP’s head of trading, until O’Neill’s arrival.As BP’s third chief executive in under five years, O’Neill is expected to face pressure from disgruntled shareholders to revive BP’s fortunes after its failed attempt to pursue a greener agenda. BP was left lagging behind its industry rivals, including Shell, which were better able to profit from the energy crisis triggered by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.Its floundering share price made the company a target for the feared New York activist hedge fund Elliott Management and fuelled rumours that the company could fall prey to a takeover.BP also became the first large oil company to suspend its shareholder buy-backs earlier this year after its underlying earnings fell to just below $7.5bn (£5.5bn) for 2025, down from almost $9bn for 2024.Oil companies across the industry reported weaker profits for last year after global oil prices fell for a third consecutive year and at the steepest rate since the Covid pandemic.The oil price, which averaged $69 a barrel last year, has rocketed to just below $89 a barrel this week after Iran effectively blocked oil and gas cargoes from transiting the crucial strait of Hormuz trade route in retaliation against the weekend attacks by the US and Israel.O’Neill’s surprise appointment was made late last year, only weeks after BP appointed Albert Manifold to chair its board. Manifold replaced Helge Lund, who presided over the oil company’s failed attempt to adopt a green energy agenda.