Chevron Corp. said May 26 it will consolidate its upstream, midstream and downstream segments as part of an “enterprise-wide transformation” launched by the oil major in 2020.

“We’ve made significant progress over the last two years, and these changes position us to further enhance execution across all aspects of our business as the energy system evolves,” Mike Wirth, Chevron’s chairman and CEO, commented in a company release.

As part of the changes announced May 26, a new executive vice president, Nigel Hearne, will oversee Chevron’s full value chain in the newly created position of executive vice president, Oil, Products & Gas.

The company also will consolidate its upstream business into two regions—Americas Exploration & Production and International Exploration & Production—led by Bruce Niemeyer and Clay Neff, respectively.

Chevron’s Strategy & Sustainability, Corporate Affairs and Business Development functions will also be organized under a new executive vice president, Strategy, Policy & Development—Mark Nelson.

The changes on May 26 also included the retirement of Jay Pryor, vice president of Chevron Business Development, and Steve Green, president of Chevron North America Exploration & Production. Chevron’s current executive Vice President of Upstream, Jay Johnson, will also move into a new role as executive vice president, senior adviser, to support the transition until Jan. 31, 2023.

Pryor has more than 43 years of service to the company and will retire effective July 29. With more than than 24 years of service to the company and its predecessors, Green will retire effective Sept. 30. Johnson has more than 41 years of service to the company.

“I want to especially thank Jay Johnson, Jay Pryor and Steve Green for all they’ve done for our company, our industry and our employees over the course of their careers,” said Wirth. “Each of them exemplifies the finest qualities of character, integrity and excellence, and their influence will be felt for many decades still to come.”

Chevron expects the new leadership structure to strengthen execution and pace to deliver on the company’s objectives of higher returns and lower carbon.

“It will also bring strategy, policy and business development into tighter alignment as we focus on leveraging our strengths to deliver lower carbon energy to a growing world,” Wirth added.

The following personnel appointments are effective Oct. 1:

  • Mark Nelson was named executive vice president, Strategy, Policy & Development;
  • Nigel Hearne was named executive vice president, Oil, Products & Gas;
  • Clay Neff was named president, International Exploration & Production;
  • Bruce Niemeyer was named president, Americas Exploration & Production; and
  • Balaji Krishnamurthy was named vice president, Chevron Strategy & Sustainability

Nelson and Hearne will report to Wirth in their new roles.

Hearne had joined Texaco in 1989 as a facilities engineer at the Pembroke refinery in the U.K. and has held refinery, operations and management positions of increasing responsibility in a variety of locations. He most recently served as Chevron president EurAsia Pacific Exploration and Production Co.

Nelson joined Chevron U.S.A. Inc. in 1985 as an engineer based in the company’s San Ramon, California, headquarters. He has more than 35 years of experience serving in a number of leadership positions with increasing responsibilities within the company in retail, marketing, operations and business planning, most recently as executive vice president of downstream and chemicals where he oversees Chevron’s joint-venture Chevron Phillips Chemical Co.

“I’m confident that our new team will continue to effectively lead the company in delivering the affordable, reliable and ever-cleaner energy that enables human progress,” Wirth continued. “Their contributions will be essential in enabling us to advance our objectives of higher returns, lower carbon.”