She arrived as a planner in the marketing division, later moving to the sales division and working in a variety of roles.

The company also enjoyed what it called its 'best ever year' in its refining and marketing division.

A strong performance in its refining and marketing division offset these factors to deliver underlying profits of $2.3 billion, excluding the divestment impairments.

While profit at the division that mines metals and minerals was hit by the slump in copper and coal prices, the marketing division, which trades about 90 commodities, improved markedly.

In total, that represented a $1 billion drop in costs during the first quarter, with about twothirds of the reduction coming in the refining and marketing division, the company said.