Texaco Chairman Peter Bijur Resigns

Texaco Inc. said Sunday that Chairman and Chief Executive Peter Bijur has retired, less than six months after his company agreed to be acquired by Chevron Corp. in a transaction now valued at about $45 billion.

Texaco’s board accepted Bijur’s resignation at a meeting Sunday and named Senior Vice President Glenn Tilton as CEO. Bijur’s retirement was effective immediately.

Bijur, who began his career at Texaco in 1966, said in a statement that it was “the right time for me to begin another chapter in my professional career.” Texaco spokeswoman Keelin Molloy declined to elaborate further.

Bijur, 58, had been Texaco’s chairman and CEO since 1996. He had been expected to serve as vice chairman of the combined Chevron and Texaco, overseeing power plants, natural gas and refining.

Texaco, based in White Plains, N.Y., is the third-largest oil company in the United States. On the New York Stock Exchange on Friday, Texaco shares fell 55 cents to $61.35 and San Francisco-based Chevron fell 85 cents to $82.42.

Bijur’s resignation comes less than a week after Exxon Mobil Corp. Vice Chairman Lucio Noto announced his retirement. Noto, the former head of Mobil Corp., said he was no longer needed to make the Exxon Mobil merger work.

During Bijur’s tenure, Texaco settled one of the largest racial discrimination lawsuits in U.S. history, agreeing to pay $115 million in damages plus pay raises of at least 10% to about 1,400 black employees. The settlement followed the sensational disclosure of secret recordings of senior Texaco executives denigrating black workers and plotting to destroy incriminating evidence in the lawsuit.