BP's Delaney Proposed to Succeed Stern as OMV CEO

OMV AG said Friday its executive board has proposed Emma Delaney, outgoing customers and products executive vice president at BP PLC, as replacement for Alfred Stern and the Austrian state-backed energy company's first female CEO.

At BP, Reuters reported Friday Richard Harding would replace Delaney, who took over the BP position July 2020. BP has yet to reply to Rigzone's comment request. Delaney is no longer on BP's online directory of its leaders.

Stern, OMV CEO since September 2021, waived his chance for reappointment last year. Stern will conclude his term this August, as announced by OMV May 20, 2025.

After an international search, OMV's supervisory board will at their next meeting decide Delaney's appointment as CEO and chair of the executive board, OMV said in an online statement Friday. Delaney, an Irish citizen, would start September 1 for a three-year term extendible by 2 years.

Delaney "is an accomplished energy expert and long-time member of BP’s top management with three decades of relevant professional experience", OMV said. "In her current position as executive vice president at one of the three global businesses of BP, she is responsible for an organization with more than 50,000 employees in around 50 countries, spanning fuels and biofuels, industrial and automotive lubricant production, as well as aviation fuels and e-mobility.

"Emma Delaney brings profound knowledge in upstream and downstream as well as LNG businesses".

OMV deputy chair Edith Hlawati said, "The executive board nomination of Emma Delaney will give OMV an even stronger international visibility".

"With her appointment Emma Delaney would become the first female CEO in the history of OMV", Hlawati added.

Delaney's potential takeover follows the recent launch of OMV and Abu Dhani National Oil Co's (ADNOC) enlarged polyolefins joint venture. Borouge Group International AG (Borouge International) is "the world’s leading pure-play polyolefins company and fourth-largest polyolefins producer with premium products, pioneering technology and a global footprint", OMV and ADNOC said in a joint statement May 31. Borouge International merged OMV-ADNOC joint ventures Borealis GmbH and Borouge PLC and acquired NOVA Chemicals Corp.

Stern had "spearheaded" the merger, OMV said May 20, 2025 announcing Stern's decision not to renew his term.

Delaney leaves BP just as Meg O'Neill begins her term as CEO. On April 1, 2026 the former CEO of Australia's Woodside Energy Group Ltd took the reins from Murray Auchincloss, who resigned after just two years.

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