Why is BP’s CEO Proposing a New Company Structure?
Newly appointed BP CEO Meg O’Neill has announced plans to simplify the company structure into two main business units.
This process would see BP return to its previous structure prior to the company’s abandoned attempt to transform itself into a solar and wind-led renewable energy firm in 2020.
In an internal company call on 14 April, Meg informed her staff that BP will move to a traditional two-business arrangement, including an upstream oil and gas production unit and a downstream business focused on refining and distributing fuels and retail activities.
She is yet to announce who would be leading both divisions.
Meg took over the leadership position on 1 April with the goal to realign the company’s focus on oil and gas production growth and divest low-return clean energy assets.
She replaced Murray Auchincloss, who was ousted in 2025 by BP Chairman Albert Manifold, who said company changes weren’t happening quick enough.
A new company direction
BP’s planned overhaul is the latest move in steering the company away from previous CEO Bernard Looney’s strategy, who in 2020 restructured BP to include a gas and low-carbon energy division as part of a mission to position BP as a green energy company.
Following concerns among the company’s investor base and calls to refocus the company’s fossil fuel strategies and simplify its structure from investors like Elliott Management, BP ousted Bernard in September 2023 and announced plans to appoint Meg in December last year.
In a note to employees, Meg said she would provide the company with “clear direction and consistency” as it navigates “an environment of significant complexity”, referring to conflict in the Middle East.
Supply chain disruptions
The US-Israeli strikes on Iran have resulted in one of the biggest energy supply crises in history, however BP has claimed it expects to receive high earnings from trading oil despite volatility in the energy market.
On 14 April, in a company statement BP said its refining margins had improved and that the “oil trading result is expected to be exceptional” in the first quarter of its financial year.
Analysts for the energy and oil industry have been updating their profit forecasts, with the US bank Citi raising its estimate for BP by 20% to US$2.6bn adjusted net income in the January to March quarter.
BP’s announcement comes after the International Energy Agency (IEA) cut its forecasts for global oil demand this year.
In its April 2026 report on the oil market, IEA warned of increasing supply chain challenges, saying continued attacks on energy infrastructure in the Middle East has resulted in global oil supply plummeting by more than 10m barrels of oil a day in March.
Assisting in long-term strategies
Currently, BP has three main business units – its gas and low-carbon unit, its oil production and operations unit and its US onshore business and refinery operations.
Meg told employees restructuring the company into two units would create a “simpler, stronger, more valuable BP” and would provide the organisation with a “clear upstream and downstream”.
Following Carol Howle’s recent appointment as Deputy CEO, Meg said that Carol will assist in BP’s long-term strategy beyond its 2027 targets, not specifying what they were.
The day after her appointment on 1 April, she said she was “committed to providing clear direction and consistency” so the company can “move forward with confidence”.
“I’m looking forward to working closely with [Howle] to deliver a simpler, stronger, more valuable bp to maximize value for our shareholders,” Meg added.