BP has appointed the first female chief executive in its 116-year history after the shock departure of its boss following pressure from activist investors.

Oil and gas veteran Meg O’Neill will take over in April as the FTSE 100 giant further distances itself from its disastrous foray into green energy and doubles down on fossil fuels.

Analysts said the appointment of the former ExxonMobil executive brings an end to ‘the woke management ethos’ that has hampered BP.

O’Neill, who doubled oil and gas output in her current role as chief executive of Australian firm Woodside Energy, will replace Murray Auchincloss after he abruptly quit yesterday less than two years into the job.

As well as being the company’s first female chief executive, which makes her the most powerful woman in the oil and gas industry, she is also its first external appointment.

Auchincloss has been under pressure from US hedge fund Elliott Management to step up performance, slash costs, boost shareholder returns and slim down BP’s debt pile.

The shake-up comes just two years after chief executive Bernard Looney quit in disgrace after a scandal over past relationships with colleagues.

He was followed out the door by the chairman, Helge Lund, this year who, along with Looney and then, finance director Auchincloss spearheaded BP’s ill-fated push into renewables.

Although Auchincloss had performed a U-turn after taking over from Looney, pivoting back towards oil and gas, analysts suggested progress may not have been fast enough for Elliott or new chairman Albert Manifold.

Ashley Kelty, oil and gas research analyst at Panmure Liberum, said: ‘Auchincloss was one of the chief architects of the disastrous pivot towards low-margin renewables. His uninspired leadership has seen BP underperform peers.

‘We would imagine investors will be thrilled to see the end of the woke management ethos that has prevailed. We would hope BP will now return to focusing on its core oil and gas business and could see a return to growth.’

Carol Howle, executive vice-president of supply, trading and shipping at BP, will be interim chief until O’Neill arrives.

Auchincloss said: ‘After more than three decades with BP, now is the right time to hand the reins to a new leader. When Albert became chair, I expressed my openness to step down were an appropriate leader identified who could accelerate delivery of BP’s strategy.’

Some analysts were sceptical of O’Neill’s appointment, however, pointing out that Woodside shares have fared even worse than BP’s over the past five years.

Paul Gooden, natural resources portfolio manager at Ninety One, said: ‘We suspect that Albert Manifold was encountering resistance to change within BP. The appointment of an external chief executive will help to remove some of those barriers.

‘However, there are no silver bullets; fixing BP’s over-leveraged balance sheet won’t be easy, and Woodside’s shares underperformed peers during Meg’s tenure as chief executive.’

Can oil and gas veteran turn ship around? 

She is Big Oil’s first female chief executive, the first outsider to take charge of BP, and one of the few openly gay leaders in global energy.

And now Meg O’Neill has the task of reviving one of Britain’s biggest companies.

‘It is going to be a huge job,’ was the verdict of Neil Beveridge at broker Bernstein.

Donald Trump’s mantra is ‘drill, baby, drill’. BP, it seems, now agrees. After BP’s ill-fated push into green energy, O’Neill arrives with a firm belief that natural gas is a long-term necessity.

A former ExxonMobil executive who lives in Australia with her wife, Vicky Hayes, and their teenage daughter, as chief executive of Woodside Energy she oversaw the £20billion acquisition of BHP’s petroleum assets. 

Woodside doubled oil and gas output under her, becoming a top-ten global energy and gas powerhouse, while shelving some green projects.

‘The appointment signals a clear pivot back to oil and gas,’ said Maurizio Carulli at Quilter Cheviot. 

O’Neill has, however, attracted criticism from environmentalists, while her leadership of Woodside has been questioned.

‘While BP has chronically underperformed the sector, Woodside has chronically underperformed BP,’ Brynn O’Brien, at the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility, said. ‘O’Neill is a curious choice in that context.’