By Maria Armental 

Stephen J. Riney, BP PLC's former chief financial officer for exploration and production, has been appointed Apache Corp.'s executive vice president and chief financial officer, Apache said on Thursday.

The personnel change comes just two days after Apache said its longtime chief executive, Steven Farris, had retired and about a week after it said it was laying off about 250 employees, or 5% of its staff.

One of the largest energy companies in the U.S., the Houston-based company has been under pressure from activist investor Jana Partners LLC to consider selling or spinning off its international operations to focus on shale drilling in the U.S.

Mr. Riney, who in his post with BP oversaw accounting, business development, planning and commercial operations for the upstream segment, is to take on his new post in February.

The 54-year-old replaces P. Anthony Lannie, who held the post on a temporary basis, and will stay on as executive vice president and general counsel.

"His background in the upstream business complements both our operations and long-term growth objectives," Apache's new chief executive officer, John J. Christmann IV, said.

Write to Maria Armental at maria.armental@wsj.com

Corrections & Amplifications

Stephen J. Riney has been appointed Apache Corp.'s executive vice president and chief financial officer. An earlier version of this article incorrectly spelled his surname as Riley.

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