Riverstone, the private equity firm that hired Lord Browne of Madingley in August, is seeking to boost its presence in the gas sector with another BP executive.

It is understood to be speaking to Anne Quinn, a former senior vice-president who ran the multinational’s gas and power division until September, when she quit the company.

Lord Browne joined the investment firm in August and was followed a month later by Ralph Alexander, another former colleague, who led the spin-off of Innovene, BP’s chemicals business, in 2005.

Ms Quinn, a New Zealander, joined BP when it acquired Standard Oil, of Ohio, in 1987.

The build-up of a top team of former BP staffers at Riverstone with a focus on gas, power and renewable energy is arousing comment among energy professionals, because it high-lights the rapid pace of change and a marked shift in strategy at BP since the departure of Lord Browne in the summer.

BP’s gas and power division was dissolved last month by Tony Hayward, Lord Browne’s replacement as chief executive. The corporate restructuring, which folded BP’s gas marketing activities into the upstream oil and gas production business, is viewed in the gas industry as an abrupt U-turn by the multinational from its previous strategy of extending BP beyond its core business of oil and gas production and further into the marketing and distribution of gas.

Gas industry experts see the dissolution of the gas and power division as an admission that the company was never comfortable with the business of developing gas markets and the complex links between the wholesale gas market and the power generation sector.

“Hayward is returning BP to its cultural roots as an upstream oil explorer. Gas is a marketing business and BP’s skills are in drilling for oil and developing upstream projects, not in developing downstream customer relationships,” one senior gas industry executive said.

The new BP chief’s decision to scrap the gas and power division also relegated its renewable energy activities, which remain a separate business unit within BP but without divisional status.

By tradition, BP has been seen among its oil major peers as the most focused on exploration and with a strong cultural bias towards upstream activities. Historically it had invested less in downstream manufacturing and marketing businesses.

When, under Lord Browne, BP bought Amoco and Atlantic Richfield, it acquired more downstream businesses. The former brought with it a large refining and marketing business in the United States and both Amoco and Arco opened doors for BP into liquefied natural gas (LNG). LNG has rapidly developed from an esoteric business supplying East Asian power companies to a global commodity trading business.

BP’s decision to treat its LNG business as an adjunct of upstream oil and gas exploration has provoked debate among gas experts, who see it as a surprising relegation of a rapidly expanding part of the oil industry.

From 2001 to 2004, Mr Alexander was chief executive of BP’s gas, power and renewables business.

On joining Riverstone in September, he indicated that his focus would not be on conventional energy supply. “Given the confluence of high oil prices and concerns around the environment, I believe the time has come for renewable and alternative energy to become mainstream,” he said.

Times Recommends

• Minister in talks with Saudis to protect creditors
• Premier Inn hits back in £29-a-room row
• Bankers hit back at 'populist' bonus supertax