BP CEO tells staff that company reorganisation to start in June, sources say

Thu, 07th May 2026 18:54

* BP reorganising into upstream and downstream units

* New CEO has ⁠emphasised simpler BP, focused on oil and gas

* CEO said changing BP listing to US not a priority, sources say (Adds more details from the call in ‌paragraphs 3 and 8)

LONDON, May 7 (Reuters) - BP CEO Meg O'Neill ⁠told staff on Thursday that a reorganisation into two ⁠main business units - upstream and downstream - will start in June, three sources familiar with the call said.

BP said in April it would restructure along those lines, though it did not give a timeline. The move is among the first under ‌O'Neill, who took over on April 1 as the oil major's fifth chief since 2020.

O'Neill also said changing BP's listing to the U.S. was not a priority, two of the sources said.

BP currently has three main business units. Its gas and low carbon unit includes gas-focused production, while production and operations covers oil output, its U.S. onshore ‌business and refining. The customers and products unit includes fuel sales, petrol stations and lubricants.

The gas business and BP's carbon capture and ‌storage initiatives will move into the upstream unit, while low carbon and biofuels will shift to downstream, two of the sources said.

O'Neill and Chair Albert Manifold have emphasised a "simpler" BP with a renewed focus on oil and gas investment. BP previously operated with upstream and downstream ‌units before then-CEO Bernard Looney reorganised the company in 2020 as part of a push into renewables, a strategy that drew investor criticism.

"In service of becoming a simpler, stronger, more valuable BP, ⁠we intend ⁠to build an organisation with a clear upstream and downstream," ‌BP said in response to this story.

O'Neill said on the call there was additional opportunity in the UK North Sea but it was a challenging fiscal regime, one of the sources said.

Bloomberg ‌News reported last week, citing people familiar with the matter, that BP was weighing a sale of some or all of its UK North Sea operations. (Reporting by Stephanie Kelly and Shadia Nasralla. Editing by Alex Richardson and Mark Potter)