LONDON -- W. Douglas Ford, BP Plc.'s chief executive downstream, will step down from the oil company’s board of directors on March 31.
Ford’s board responsibility for downstream will be assumed by Rodney Chase, BP’s deputy chief executive, the company says.
“As we have strong succession plans in place, we have felt able to respond to Doug’s desire to return to the US for personal reasons,” said BP’s Group Chief Executive Officer John Browne.
Ford, 58, joined the BP board in January 2000, following the merger of BP with Amoco in 1998. Prior to the merger, he was executive vice president of Amoco Corp., responsible for its Petroleum Products Sector and worldwide Engineering and Construction operations. He was elected an executive vice president in July 1993 and president of Amoco Oil in July 1992. He joined Amoco in 1970 as a process development research engineer at the company’s research and development center in Naperville, Ill. After a series of promotions he became engineering and technical manager at Amoco’s Texas City, Texas, refinery in 1980.
In 1982, Ford moved to the company’s Whiting, Ind., refinery as manager of the catalytic division. In 1985 he became Amoco Oil’s manager of supply operations coordinating light oils in Chicago, and manager of operations planning for light oils in 1986. He was named St. Louis marketing district manager in 1987, and in 1989, he was named regional production manager for Amoco Production Co. in Denver.
