BP CEO says company should stop calling itself a supermajor

BP ↘ 0.92% on Tuesday reported second-quarter profit of $5.7 billion, more than doubling from year-ago levels, as elevated oil prices driven by the Middle East conflict delivered a windfall to the British energy company. But even as cash poured in, CEO Meg O'Neill used the results to deliver a striking message: BP should stop thinking of itself as a supermajor.

O'Neill told Bloomberg it is "prudent" to stop calling BP a Big Oil supermajor, saying the company should compete within its own "weight class" rather than trying to match larger rivals such as ExxonMobil Exxon Mobil Corporation ↘ 1.21%, Shell ↘ 0.42%, Chevron ↘ 1.38%, and TotalEnergies ↘ 0.29%. The comment marks a notable rhetorical shift for a company that has long counted itself among the world's elite oil producers.bloomberg

War Windfall

The underlying replacement cost profit of $5.7 billion for the April-to-June quarter beat analyst expectations of $5 billion compiled by LSEG and compared with $2.35 billion in the same period last year. Brent crude averaged $103.85 per barrel during the quarter, up sharply from $81.13 in Q1 2026, following the near-complete closure of the Strait of Hormuz after the Iran war began in late February.bp+2

The surge in cash flow helped reduce BP's net debt by $3 billion from the previous quarter to $22.5 billion, allowing the company to accelerate its deleveraging target by one year. Speaking on Bloomberg Television, O'Neill said she is "really pleased with the strength of the underlying business" but stressed the company has "more work to do on the portfolio."energynow+1

Reshaping the Company

O'Neill, who took over on April 1 as BP's first female CEO, has moved quickly to reshape the company. In her first four months she dismantled BP's low-carbon division, collapsed the corporate structure into a traditional upstream-downstream organization, and announced job cuts. Last week, BP put its North Sea business up for sale, ending six decades of production in the region as part of a $20 billion asset disposal target by end-2027.bbc+3

The Longer-Term Challenge

Yet the same conflict that boosted profits has complicated BP's planning. As Reuters columnist Ron Bousso noted, the post-war environment is making investment decisions more expensive as producers scramble for drilling rigs and services, while governments reassess their reliance on imported fossil fuels. BP must still commit billions to large new projects — including developments in Brazil, the Gulf of Mexico, Namibia, and the Middle East — to sustain production after years of underinvestment in its upstream pipeline.energynow

BP's shares have fallen roughly 3% since O'Neill's arrival, underperforming Shell and TotalEnergies, suggesting investors are still trying to distinguish between a wartime windfall and a lasting improvement in the company's prospects.energynow