Chevron's Kirkland to Retire

Chevron Corporation confirmed that George L. Kirkland, vice chairman and executive vice president, Upstream, will retire from the company, effective June 15. He will be succeeded by James W. (Jay) Johnson, as executive vice president, Upstream, effective June 16.

Kirkland, 64, joined Chevron (CVX) in 1974. He was named executive vice president of Upstream in 2005 and elected vice chairman in 2010. During his career he has held numerous assignments across the company’s worldwide operations, including leadership roles in Indonesia and Nigeria, as well as president of the North America and international upstream businesses. Under his stewardship, the company enhanced its position as an industry leader – it applied advanced gas injection technology to grow production at the Tengiz field in Kazakhstan, developed groundbreaking Lower Tertiary resources at the Jack and St. Malo fields in the Gulf of Mexico, assembled a world-class shale oil and gas position in North America, enhanced functional capabilities and base business reliability, and developed long-lived liquefied natural gas assets at Gorgon and Wheatstone in Australia. Under his leadership, the company consistently reported peer-leading performance.

Johnson, 56, joined Chevron in 1981 and has been senior vice president of Upstream since the beginning of 2014. Previously, Johnson was president of Chevron’s Europe, Eurasia and Middle East Exploration and Production Company and managing director of its Eurasia business unit, responsible for upstream and transportation activities in Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Russia and Turkey. Johnson also was managing director of Chevron’s Australasia business unit, responsible for exploration and planning for the development of the Wheatstone and Greater Gorgon area gas fields. Past positions also include work in production operations, major capital projects, shipping and strategic planning.

Watson also announced that effective with Kirkland’s retirement, Joseph C. (Joe) Geagea is appointed executive vice president of Technology, Projects and Services (TPS).

TPS includes a number of key functional groups that support the enterprise with services such as major capital project development; drilling and upstream base business operations; energy and information technology; health, environment and safety; procurement, and workforce development.

Geagea, 55, joined the company in 1982. He has been senior vice president of TPS since the beginning of 2014. Previously, he was president of Chevron’s Gas and Midstream group, managing director of the company’s Asia South business unit and president of downstream operations in East Africa, the Middle East and Pakistan.

Both Johnson and Geagea will report to Watson.