Embattled BP replaces CEO, naming Woodside Energy chief as first-ever woman leader of a Big Oil giant

Embattled BP made a dramatic CEO change Wednesday as it hired Woodside Energy leader Meg O’Neill as the first-ever woman CEO of a Big Oil giant.

O’Neill is a Colorado native and Exxon Mobil veteran who grew Australia’s Woodside into a much bigger global natural gas player with expansions into the U.S. She is taking over the British energy behemoth at a time when it has fallen behind the other global oil and gas supermajors and was even a potential takeover target earlier this year by rival Shell.