Peter I. Bijur has stepped down from his position as Texaco Inc. chairman and chief executive officer. Bijur will retire early to "pursue other interests," the company said. To replace Bijur at the helm, Texaco's board has chosen Glenn F. Tilton to serve as president and CEO.
Tilton joined Texaco in 1970 as a sales trainee and served in numerous marketing positions before being named vice-president, Northeastern region, in 1978. Since that time, he has held several positions within Texaco. Tilton was named vice-president, marketing, for Texaco USA in 1987, president of Texaco Refining & Marketing Inc. in 1988, and vice-president of Texaco Inc. in 1989.
In 1991, Tilton was appointed chairman of Texaco Ltd. The next year, he was named president of Texaco Europe. In late 1994, he was appointed president of Texaco USA, where he held responsibilities for Texaco's US integrated business units.
Tilton was elected senior vice-president of Texaco Inc. in 1995. He took on additional responsibilities as president of global businesses in 1997. Tilton has held these positions until his most recent appointment as Texaco chief executive. Texaco and Chevron Corp. unveiled their pending merger last fall (OGJ, Oct. 23, 2000, p. 29).
John P. Surma was appointed president of Marathon Ashland Petroleum LLC (MAP), Findlay, Ohio, effective Jan. 1. Surma succeeds J.L. "Corky" Frank, who recently returned to Marathon Oil Co. as executive vice-president. Surma joined Marathon Oil Co. in 1997 as senior vice-president, finance and accounting. In 1998, he was appointed senior vice-president, finance and administration. That same year, he was named president of Speedway SuperAmerica LLC. Most recently, Surma served as senior vice-president, supply and transportation at MAP.
Before joining Marathon, Surma worked as a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, serving as Pittsburgh office leader for audit and business advisory services and national co-leader of the firm's products advisory group. He was responsible for providing consulting services to major manufacturing and process companies, and technical leadership in areas such as inventory and environmental accounting and auditing.
Other moves
Keith O. Rattie has been named president and chief operating officer of Questar Corp. While holding numerous engineering and management positions within the various segments of Questar, Rattie most recently served as senior vice-president of Coastal Corp. and president and CEO of Coastal's unregulated natural gas subsidiary, Coastal Gas Services Co.
Before joining Coastal, Rattie worked for Chevron Corp. for 19 years. Rattie replaces R.D. Cash, who will continue with Questar as chairman and CEO.
Brian K. Ayers has joined the Houston division of Samson Lone Star as vice-president, exploration. Ayers, who most previously worked at Texaco Inc., has more than 20 years of experience in exploration.
Keith Hill has been named general manager for Lundin Oil AB unit Lundin Malaysia Ltd. The appointment follows the recent death of Ted Webb, former general manager for the Malaysian unit. Webb joined the Swedish independent oil company's unit in 1999 and was involved in the company's operations in Malaysia and Viet Nam. Most recently, Hill served as exploration manager for the unit.
He began his career as an exploration geologist with Shell Oil Co. in 1985. In 1991, he joined Occidental Petroleum Corp., where he worked on new-venture exploration projects in Africa, Europe, and South America.