BP must make better use of investor capital, CEO O’Neill says
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"We have not been careful stewards of shareholder capital," BP (BP) CEO Meg O'Neill said Monday at the Energy Intelligence Forum in London, as reported by Bloomberg.
Just six months into the job, O'Neill has moved to reorganize the company following years of underperformance, including selling low-returning assets, streamlining the corporate structure, and bringing in a new chairman.
BP (BP) has been helped during O'Neill's brief tenure by the Iran war, which has driven up oil and gas prices, but the CEO declined to say on Monday when stock buybacks would restart, saying only that the company would keep repaying its debts, would not raise spending, and ruled out major acquisitions in the short term.
"We are, in our sector, the company that has been the most levered for more than a decade," O'Neill said.
BP (BP) has no intention of shying away from the Middle East, and the company is working with Iraq's government to understand options for new export routes, including a northern route, the CEO said.
The company's planned sale of its U.K. North Sea business is attracting "lots of interest," O'Neill also said.
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