Clarence P. Cazalot Jr.

Clarence Cazalot
Born
Clarence P. Cazalot Jr.

1950 (age 73–74)
New Orleans, Louisiana, US
Alma materLouisiana State University
OccupationRetired Chief Executive Officer
TitlePresident and Chief Executive Officer of Marathon Oil Corporation
TermJanuary 1, 2002 – 2012[1]
Board member ofMarathon Oil Corporation, Baker Hughes, Oil and Natural Gas Industry Labor-Management Committee
AwardsWoodrow Wilson Award (2008)
John Rogers Award (2010)[2]

Clarence Peter Cazalot Jr. (born 1950)[3] was president and chief executive of the Houston-based Marathon Oil Corporation.[1][4] Since he took over control of the company in 2002, Marathon has expanded abroad with investments in the nascent gas industry of Equatorial Guinea and oil in Gabon, Libya and Norway.[5][6] Its upstream earnings from overseas projects have been tripled and Marathon is beginning to sell off the smaller assets.

A trained geologist, Cazalot doesn't come from a tycoon background and spent much of his career doing technical work for Texaco. However, he benefited from the decades of experience in offshore drilling and, particularly, in laying pipelines, getting three high-profile roles managing Texaco's international production divisions. After joining Marathon in 2000, he quickly improved the company's bargaining situation with a somewhat cooperative approach to developing energy markets and pricing, instead putting a strategic focus on technology.

Throughout his career, Cazalot has financed acquisitions of foreign supplies by creating good relationships with research facilities and lowering production costs rather than seeking international lending. His corporate focus is now on gas commercialization, and while it has to deliver the company any "breakthrough" technologies,[5] he has had a great deal of success in the past with oil completion technologies. Marathon's subsidiary, Marathon Ashland Petroleum, is today the fifth largest petroleum refiner in the United States.

It has also improved the company's debt-position and made Cazalot an immensely wealthy man. He earned a reported $6.5 million in compensation in 2008, making him nominally one of the highest paid executives in Houston.[7] He is a member of the board of Baker Hughes and the Oil and Natural Gas Industry Labor-Management Committee.[5] He is a general member of the Council on Competitiveness, the exclusive All-American Wildcatters Association, a number of other industry associations, and several local business groups in the Greater Houston area.

  1. ^ a b Pulsinello, Olivia. "Web Producer". Houston Business Journal. Houston Business Journal. Retrieved 23 July 2014.
  2. ^ "2010 John Rogers Award Recipient: Clarence P. Cazalot Jr". The Institute for Energy Law. Retrieved 2009-08-30.
  3. ^ Helman, Christopher (2008-11-17). "The Gambler". Forbes. Vol. 182, no. 10. pp. 129–130. Retrieved 2009-08-31.
  4. ^ "Corporate Profile: Clarence P. Cazalot Jr". Marathon Oil Corporation. Archived from the original on 2011-05-23. Retrieved 2009-08-30.
  5. ^ a b c Donnelly, John (September 2006). "An interview with Clarence P. Cazalot Jr., President and CEO, Marathon Oil Corp". Journal of Petroleum Technology. 58 (9): 24–37. doi:10.2118/0906-0024-JPT. Retrieved 2009-08-30.
  6. ^ Marathon's first investment in Equatorial Guinea was in 2001:
    • Spagat, Elliot (2001-11-05). "Marathon Oil Will Acquire CMS's Stakes In Some African Fields for $993 Million". The Wall Street Journal. Vol. 238, no. 89. p. B10.
  7. ^ Fowler, Tom (2009-07-25). "A snapshot can miss full picture". The Houston Chronicle. pp. D1–D2. Retrieved 2009-08-30.