Two of the biggest independent exploration and production companies in North America — Marathon Oil Corp. and Encana Corp. — last week tapped former Big Oil executives to helm their operations.

Clarence P. Cazalot Jr., the majordomo of Marathon Oil Corp. for 14 years and a 41-year industry veteran, announced he would retire at the end of the year. The board elected Lee M. Tillman, 51, who most recently was vice president of engineering for ExxonMobil’s development company, to succeed him as president and CEO effective Aug. 1. Lead director Dennis H. Reilley would be nominated as nonexecutive chair once Cazalot retires.

At ExxonMobil Development Co., Tillman oversaw a global engineering staff that worked on “major project concept selection, front-end design and engineering. He began his career at a predecessor Exxon company in 1989 as a research engineer and has operations experience in the United States and overseas. In 2003 he became an upstream adviser to the management committee and two years later, he was appointed offshore division manager of ExxonMobil Upstream Research Co. Tillman also served as North Sea production manager and lead country manager in Norway from 2007 to 2010.

Tillman’s “strong leadership skills and extensive experience in global operations, project execution and leading edge technology will be invaluable in confronting the challenges facing our company and industry,” said Cazalot. “I look forward to working with Lee…over the next six months as we transition to his leadership and continue to execute on our well defined strategy.”

Among other things, Cazalot, 62, led the company’s restructuring in 2011 to become a pure-play exploration and production company after spinning off the downstream business into Marathon Petroleum Corp. (see NGI, July 4, 2011).

“The progress Marathon Oil has made moving from an integrated company to an independent exploration and production company over the past two years has been nothing short of exceptional,” Tillman said. “The combined efforts of a dynamic board, focused management and dedicated global employees have yielded Marathon Oil’s differentiating performance and strong growth outlook.”

Cazalot graduated from Louisiana State University in 1972 with a bachelor of science degree in geology and joined Texaco Inc. that year as a geophysicist. By 1999, he was president of Texaco’s worldwide operations, shortly before it was acquired by Chevron Corp. in late 2000. In March 2000 Cazalot joined USX Corp. as vice chairman and was named president of Marathon; he became president and CEO when USX separated its steel and energy businesses a year later.

Doug Suttles, the former operating chief for BP plc’s global exploration and production arm, last week took the helm of Encana, Canada’s largest natural gas producer, as CEO and president. The 30-year industry veteran took the reins from board member and interim CEO Clayton H. Woitas, who has run the company since Encana lifer Randy Eresman, who was CEO for seven years, resigned in January (see NGI, Jan. 21). Woitas has been tapped to take over as chairman once David O’Brien retires this year.

Suttles discussed his new role just hours into his tenure during a conference call last week. The Calgary operator’s decision to focus capital on its highest-return assets already has positioned it for the future, he said.

“My goal over the coming months is to gain an in-depth understanding of the company’s assets and how they are performing in each key area. With that understanding, I will be in a position to form a compelling vision” and lay out a strategy for the long-term.

“I want to do this once and I want to do it right,” he told analysts. “It will be some time before I have a clear and consistent vision for Encana…In the meantime, we will be focused on delivering the 2013 plan laid out earlier this year.” The company also “will maintain a heightened focus” on capital discipline.

A mid-year operational review in July may lead Encana to “reallocate capital amongst various programs,” said Suttles. Anything “noteworthy” would be addressed next month during a second quarter conference call. “I am committed to delivering a clear, measurable plan” to meet financial and operational objectives,” he added.

Suttles retired from BP in 2011 after overseeing the oil major’s response to the 2010 Macondo well blowout. From January 2009 to March 2011, he was COO of BP Exploration & Production Inc., where he led global energy and production activities, technology groups, and learning and development organization. From November 2006 to December 2008, Suttles was president of BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. He also held similar responsibilities as president of BP Sakhalin from June 2005 to November 2006. Suttles also worked for ExxonMobil as an engineer from 1983 to 1988.

During the conference call, Suttles was asked how his global experience with BP would translate into helping Encana develop its onshore North American resources.

“I’ve had the opportunity to work in many of the great basins around the world, both here in North America and internationally,” Suttles said. As an “engineer by training, I’ve spent a good deal of time practicing that..It gives me a great position to help make judgments in early resource plays…”

Suttles said his “broad experience” would help guide his management of Encana. “In the end, this business is very dependent upon great assets and being incredibly efficient in how they are developed,” he said. “It’s a very capital-intensive business…” At Encana, “one thing I will be looking at is capital efficiency, which should be one of the best in the industry and improving continuously.”

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