The decision to replace Murray Auchincloss with Woodside’s Meg O’Neill is puzzling on at least two counts

Here we go again. Just when you thought BP was trying to generate less drama, the new chair has decided a new chief executive is needed. Say goodbye to Murray Auchincloss, who junked the green-ish transition strategy of his predecessor as recently as February. Meg O’Neill, the American boss of the Australian group Woodside Energy, becomes BP’s first outside hire as chief executive.

At face value, a new appointment should not be an outright surprise. Albert Manifold arrived as BP chair in July and, after the many flip-flops under the ineffectual Helge Lund, he had a mandate to take his own view of how the company should be managed. If he and the board think an injection of “increased rigour and diligence” is necessary to fulfil the new oilier plan, fair enough. The activist investor Elliott may have been urging much the same. Even Auchincloss recognised the possibility he could be axed. His statement said he had told Manifold of his “openness to step down” if a new leader was identified.