7 October 2011, Sweetcrude, Houston – Houston, United States-based integrated energy company, ConocoPhillips, has named Ryan Lance and Greg Garland as successors to chief executive officer, Jim Mulva, who is retiring after the major splits in two in the second quarter of 2012.
Lance will become the chairman and chief executive of ConocoPhillips, the upstream company, and Garland will become the chairman and chief executive of the downstream company.
Lance is currently senior vice president of international exploration and production for the company.
A petroleum engineer by trade, he has more than 26 years of industry experience in senior management and technical positions with ConocoPhillips, predecessor Phillips Petroleum and various divisions of Arco.
“ConocoPhillips will retain the size, scale and capability to pursue any project globally, with the additional benefit of greater focus”, Lance commented in a statement on the leadership reshuffle.
He said the split would leave the E&P arm with an enhanced balance sheet and strong capabilities for expansion.
Garland is currently senior vice president of exploration and production in the Americas.
He started as a project engineer with Phillips Petroleum, and has since been associated with ConocoPhillips, its predecessors and affiliated companies for more than 31 years.
From 2008 until last year, Garland was president and chief executive of Chevron Phillips Chemical Company, the 50-50 joint venture of ConocoPhillips and Chevron, of which ConocoPhillips’ share will go to the new downstream company.
Garland said the split would leave the refining company with a diverse and competitive portfolio of segment leaders.
Both men paid tribute to their predecessor. Garland said that Mulva’s “vision and leadership have built the ConocoPhillips of today”, while Lance said Mulva had been a mentor to both executives, and had left a standard of excellence to build upon.
Both appointments will become effective at the completion of ConocoPhillips’ split next year. Lance and Garland will continue in senior management roles until that time, while also directing transition plans, including appointment of their executive management teams.
ConocoPhillips is an integrated energy company with interests around the world. Headquartered in Houston, the company has almost 30,000 employees, $160 billion in assets, and $244 billion of annualized revenues as of 30 June.
