Clarence P. Cazalot, Jr.

Clarence Peter Cazalot Jr. (born 1950) was president and chief executive of the Houston-based Marathon Oil Corporation. 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. 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 establishing 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, He is a member of the board of Baker Hughes and the Oil and Natural Gas Industry Labor-Management Committee. The Houston office was made responsible for support functions, such as general accounting and paying out royalties, which had previously been performed at field offices stretching from Midland, Ohio to Denver to Bakersfield, California. In the 1999 restructuring, he was promoted to a third position, bearing the title "President of international production operations".

President of Marathon Upon leaving Texaco in late 1999, Cazalot joined USX Corporation and Marathon Oil, serving as president of Marathon from March 2000 until 2001.

Cazalot's first major investment was into oil and gas properties in Equatorial Guinea. A "syndicate of underwriters" helped the company raise a billion dollars in long-term debt at low rates to finance the acquisition. It was the largest borrowing Marathon had ever underwritten and, because it was repaid so quickly, cemented the company's reputation for conservative financial strategies.

In September 2003 the company was restructured. Around 265 jobs were cut and its domestic offices were consolidated into two business units, Northern and Southern.

William Schwind, vice president of Marathon, retired in August 2009. As with Cazalot, the board named him vice president after the corporate separation. Cazalot described him as "an essential element" of Marathon's success.

Cazalot retired in 2012.

Industry associations In April 2002, Cazalot joined the Baker Hughes board of directors. Cazalot is a member of the All-American Wildcatters Association, a private club founded by Duke Rudman in 1969 which has become a sort of fraternity for many of the oil industry's most influential families and potentates.