Boynton is the third senior executive to step down from the oil giant following restatement of its oil reserves after an erroneous booking that resulted in the company, in January, cutting 3.9 billion barrels or 20%, from the reserves it claimed in US Securities and Exchange Commission filings.

She was one of the few female senior executives working in the FTSE100.

Chairman Jeroen van der Veer said: 'The controls we now have in place will be rigorously enforced and will be subject to far greater levels of scrutiny within Shell. Despite the difficulties of recent months Shell is a sound and profitable business. We are making the changes to our reserves practices to ensure that that remains the case.'

The oil company has also further restated oil reserves, with an additional drop of half a million barrels. External experts will be involved in the annual audit and reporting of reserves in the future.

Tim Morrison has been appointed as acting group CFO with immediate effect.