Woodside announced the departure this afternoon.
Hick will move to FMG as CEO effective February 2023. She will replace Elizabth Gaines.
She will report the FMG board along with Fortescue Future Industries CEO Mark Hutchinson.
"I have enjoyed and grown immensely during my 20 years in energy. I am as committed to the new future of the world as Andrew [Forrest] is," Hick said of her new appointment.
"We must provide the metals and the energy which will help to accelerate the energy transition.
Forrest spent much of his speech at last week's annual general meeting railing against "filthy fossils fuels" of the kind Hick has spent much of her career developing. Forrest earlier welcomed Michael Gunner, former chief minister of the Northern Territory, to FFI to help end fossil fuels.
In his time in goverment Gunner was an enthusiastic backer of developing the vast shale play locked in the Beetaloo Sub-basin.
It is the second senior loss after CFO Sherry Duhe left to join gold miner Newcrest last year when the company was still working through its gargantuan $40 billion merger with BHP's petroleum arm.
Hick joined the executive arm in 2019 and oversees operations in Australia. She was named as one of those who would be retained post-merger when O'Neill named her combined Woodside-BHP bench, prior to the June 1 completion.
Graham Tiver joined from BHP as CFO.
The Perth gas giant, which released its production and capital spend guidance for 2023 to market this morning, said Hick leaves for another ASX-listed company after a full 22 years with the company.
"Fiona has demonstrated exceptional vision and leadership in the many roles she has fulfilled at Woodside," CEO Meg O'Neill said.
"Thanks to her strong and decisive leadership Woodside's Australian operations are positioned for continuing success. "On behalf of the Woodside Board and the executive team, we wish Fiona all the best in her future endeavours," she said
Woodside's investor briefing day is Thursday. At the 2020 IBD she suggested one of the five trains at the North West Shelf LNG export facility would need to be shut down by 2024 if more backfill could not be sourced.
Hick was also appointed president of the Chamber of Minerals and Energy Western Australia last year.
