HOUSTON -- ConocoPhillips, which in July announced it will split into two companies next year, and which announced last week that the new independent downstream company will be named Phillips 66 Co., said that the head of its refining and marketing arm will retire after the separation is completed.
"Willie Chiang ... has elected to retire when the repositioning is completed in the second quarter of 2012," Conoco's spokesperson John Roper told MarketWatch, adding that Chiang will remain in his current role as senior vice president until then.
"He is a valued member of our executive team and will continue to be fully engaged as ConocoPhillips repositions into two leading energy companies," the spokesperson added.
Chiang's decision comes after the oil company named Greg Garland as the chairman and chief executive of the new independent oil refining company last month, the news agency said, a move that surprised some investors who expected Chiang to become the new CEO of the refining arm.
Garland currently serves as Conoco's senior vice president of Americas exploration and production.
Chiang's retirement will add to a string of executives that have left or will leave the company in coming months. The list includes CEO Jim Mulva, who also has said he will retire next year.
ConocoPhillips, the third-largest U.S. oil company by market value after Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp., is in the midst of a three-year restructuring process aimed at shoring up its finances, the report said.
The company has said the separation of its downstream business will increase shareholders' value as it will create two more-focused, efficient organizations with higher growth potential.
(See Related Content below for previous CSP Daily News coverage).
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