Chevron Names Michael Wirth Chairman, CEO as Watson to Retire -- Update

Chevron Corp. on Thursday said it named Michael Wirth, an engineer and longtime operator of a vast network of refining and pipeline assets, as its next chief executive.

Mr. Wirth, 56 years old, will become chairman and chief executive on Feb. 1, replacing John Watson, who led Chevron through a time of high oil prices and escalating costs as well as a prolonged downturn in the last three years.

The Wall Street Journal last month first reported the imminent change at the top of the second-largest U.S. oil company, behind Exxon Mobil Corp.

Chevron began the succession process earlier this year when it appointed Mr. Wirth vice chairman. With the ascension of Mr. Wirth, Chevron follows a number of other large oil companies who now have engineers and operations specialists with experience running refineries at the helm.

That reflects a shift under way at big oil companies as they adapt to a prolonged period of lower prices brought about by the U.S. shale boom.

While the companies once favored swashbuckling leaders who bet billions on megamergers and pricey projects in far-flung regions, many are now turning to executives adept at squeezing every last dollar from a barrel through refining, and shorter-term investments that turn a profit faster.

Mr. Wirth was chosen for many reasons that extend beyond his experience in this area, Mr. Watson said in an interview Thursday.

"Mike is broader than that," Mr. Watson said. "He was selected because of his track record of accomplishment and his breadth of leadership."

Write to Bradley Olson at Bradley.Olson@wsj.com

Chevron Corp. on Thursday named Michael Wirth as its next chief executive, choosing an engineer experienced at finding efficiencies and cutting costs as it copes with a prolonged period of lower oil prices.

Mr. Wirth, 56, a Chevron lifer who has overseen the company's vast network of refining and pipeline assets, will become chairman and chief executive on Feb. 1, replacing John Watson.

Mr. Watson, 60, has led Chevron through a tumultuous era defined by high and low prices, one in which the company made several multibillion-dollar investments that surged over cost expectations.

The Wall Street Journal first reported the executive change was expected last month.

The ascendancy of Mr. Wirth follows a pattern at big oil companies as they adapt to an oil glut and corresponding slump in prices brought about by the U.S. shale boom. Exxon Mobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell PLC and French oil giant Total SA are all run by former refining chiefs.

The largest five Western oil companies slashed spending 30% in the last three years, or about $50 billion, as oil prices fell by more than half from $100 a barrel. While much of the Big Oil cost-cutting is already done, success in a new era of plentiful supply will be defined by keeping costs down, operating efficiently and focusing on developments that can pay off quickly.

Finding new oil at any cost is no longer a primary objective. The move to executives with experience in finding efficiencies and reigning in costs reflects a profound shift in thinking from optimism to a kind of pessimistic realism, said William Arnold, a former energy banker and Shell executive who teaches at Rice University.

The optimists, a swaggering, big-dreaming group of risk takers who would not blanch at drilling six straight dry holes as long as the seventh found oil or gas, are being replaced by disciplined, pragmatic engineers, he said.

"The new leaders with this capacity are there to protect the balance sheet," he said.

Chevron began the succession process earlier this year when it appointed Mr. Wirth vice chairman. Mr. Watson and Mr. Wirth will spend the next four months meeting key leaders around the world, ensuring an orderly transition, Mr. Watson said in an interview Thursday.

He added that Mr. Wirth was chosen for many reasons that extend beyond his experience as an operations specialist.

"Mike is broader than that," Mr. Watson said. "He was selected because of his track record of accomplishment and his breadth of leadership."

A Chevron spokesman said Mr. Wirth was not available to comment.

For Chevron, mastery in shale will be paramount. Giant companies such as Chevron, known for specializing in oil and gas projects of immense scale, have lagged behind smaller peers in recent years as they moved to join the U.S. drilling frenzy in earnest. Recently they have been catching up, seeking the best mix of techniques as they break up rocks in thousands of individual wells and inject sand, water and other chemicals to make oil and gas flow.

That move plays to the strengths of people with experience of Mr. Wirth, who joined Chevron as a design engineer in 1982 and gradually rose through the ranks while leading trading, refining and pipeline business units. The relentless focus on cost reduction and maintaining profit margins at big fuel processing plants will help as companies such as Chevron and Exxon push further into shale, which some have compared to a manufacturing process.

"Mike is exactly what Chevron needs," said Kevin Holt, chief investment officer for U.S. value equities at Invesco, which owns Chevron shares. Refining executives "are much more returns focused. They are less worried about finding the next barrel of oil."

Under Mr. Watson, the company has already moved in this direction, promising to boost output in the Permian basin -- the hottest region in the industry -- as much as 700,000 barrels a day within a decade. Those plans have helped make Chevron one of the most highly recommended energy stocks by analysts.

Chevron has outperformed peers since Mr. Watson took over in 2010, with the value of shares rising more than 100% including reinvested dividends, according to FactSet. That's more than double Exxon's rise and also far exceeds the performance of Shell, Total and BP PLC.

Yet Mr. Watson also presided over two gas export projects in Australia where costs for Chevron and its partners reached almost $90 billion, or $23 billion higher than initial projections, according to analyst estimates.

That spending hampered Chevron's returns when prices were much higher a few years ago. In 2013, when global crude sold for an average of about $109 a barrel, Chevron's spending on dividends and new investments exceeded the cash it generated from operations by more than $8 billion. In 2015, after prices fell by more than half, the overspending reached about $15 billion. So far this year, the numbers are roughly balanced, according to FactSet.

Always an unapologetic advocate for the industry in his tenure, Mr. Watson said oil-and-gas companies are a "vital industry that really has been and will continue to be the lifeblood of our standard of living for the foreseeable future."

He said "the public is demanding those products be delivered in a safer and more environmentally friendly way, and we and others need to work very hard to meet that expectation."

Write to Bradley Olson at Bradley.Olson@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 28, 2017 15:29 ET (19:29 GMT)