Chevron hires TotalEnergies to shake up its exploration team

Chevron named a new global exploration head on Tuesday as CEO Mike Wirth strives to improve the track record of the company in discovering new oil and gas sources.

Kevin McLachlan, vice president of exploration, will succeed Liz Schwarze in November, after she retires from Chevron in February, following 36 years.

McLachlan's experience includes senior vice presidents of exploration for several oil companies, including TotalEnergies. He has also held positions at Murphy Oil and Nexen.

Wirth is disappointed with the recent exploration results. The company has closed its

Hess Oil Company acquires smaller oil producer

In July, give a

Needed boost

Chevron has oil and gas reserves. Wirth stated that exploration must play a major role in Chevron's strategy moving forward.

In August, he stated during a conference call for the second quarter earnings that he was not satisfied with the results of exploration in the past few years. He acknowledged that the exploration team was operating within a narrow range, with reduced investments as Chevron focused its efforts on growing U.S. Shale and balancing their capital discipline.

Mark Nelson, vice-chairman of Chevron, stated during the August conference that Chevron would pursue frontier exploration in Suriname Namibia and Egypt.

Chevron announced in January that it had not found commercial hydrocarbons at an exploration well.

Namibia's Orange Basin

. Shell, a UK-based company, was also hit by the oil crisis in Nigeria. It had to write down $400 million for a discovery of crude oil it considered unprofitable. Reporting by Arunima in Bengaluru, Sheila in Houston and Anil D'Silva in Houston. Editing by Anil and David Gregorio.

(source: Reuters)