Roger Beach Named to No. 3 Spot at Unocal

Unocal Corp., the troubled Los Angeles-based oil company, Tuesday named company veteran Roger C. Beach to the positions of president and chief operating officer.

The appointment of Beach, 55, to the company’s No. 3 spot elicited little surprise among oil analysts. Many predicted the move could lead to Beach’s replacement of Unocal’s current Chairman and Chief Executive Richard J. Stegemeier upon his retirement.

“It’s the first step of a succession outline,” said Michael C. Young, an oil analyst for Smith Barney, Harris Upham & Co. “I don’t think it’s a foregone conclusion that Roger Beach will become CEO. There’s still the possibility that other people will move up, but this is preparing the company for the change that will take place in a year or so.”

Stegemeier had held the title of president until Beach’s selection. The position of chief operating officer had been vacant since 1985, when Stegemeier gave it up to become CEO and chair.

“I am 64 years old, and I obviously have to start thinking about retiring at some time,” Stegemeier said in an interview, “but I don’t think it means any more than that, except that when a person gets to my age, they should begin to put in place an orderly succession.”

Stegemeier added that “the inference” that Beach was the most likely current candidate to replace him was correct.

Over the past three weeks, Stegemeier has announced a series of deep personnel and budget cuts.

Unocal, the country’s 12th-largest oil company, estimates that it will eliminate 800 to 1,200 positions and trim $200 million in operating costs by the end of the year. The company additionally plans to sell at least $700 million in assets over the next two years.

Like Stegemeier, Beach joined Unocal as an engineer during the company’s more profitable years. Since his entry in 1961, he has held a variety of managerial positions and has served on Unocal’s board since 1988. He was named president of the company’s refining and marketing division in 1986 and Unocal senior vice president in 1987.

His current appointment, Young said, “reflects that the board feels quite positive about the way he has tackled refining and marketing problems.”

Another candidate whom analysts had named as a possible successor to Stegemeier was John F. Imle Jr., the senior vice president of energy resources who was named executive vice president of energy resources Tuesday. Imle will oversee the elimination of 400 positions in his division alone.