Kirkland, 64, rose to the role of vice chairman and executive vice president - upstream having joined the supermajor in 1974.

Under his stewardship, Chevron led the way across several sections of industry, including applying advanced gas injection technology to grow production at the Tengiz field in Kazakhstan.

It also developed ground-breaking lower tertiary resources at the Jack and St Malo fields in the Gulf of Mexico, assembled a world-class shale oil and gas position in North America, enhanced functional capabilities and base business reliability, and developed long-lived liquefied natural gas assets at Gorgon and Wheatstone in Australia.

Kirkland was named executive vice president of upstream in 2005 and elected vice chairman in 2010.

He held numerous assignments across the company's global operations including leadership roles in Indonesia and Nigeria, as well as president of the North America and international upstream businesses.

Kirkland's retirement has triggered further shuffling among the company's upper echelon, with Joseph Geagea appointed executive vice president of technology, projects and services - a Chevron division that includes a number of key functional groups to support the enterprise.

These services include major capital project development; drilling and upstream base business operations; energy and information technology; health, environment and safety; procurement; and workforce development.

Both Johnson and Geagea will report to Chevron chairman and CEO John Watson.

"I am confident our track record of success in the upstream will continue under Jay's leadership, as his broad base of experience has prepared him well for the job," Watson said.

Johnson, 56, joined Chevron in 1981 and has been senior VP of upstream since the start of 2014.

He was previously president of Chevron's Europe, Eurasia and Middle East exploration and production company, as well as managing director of its Eurasia business unit, responsible for upstream and transportation activities in Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Russia and Turkey.

He was also the managing director of Chevron's Australasia business unit, responsible for exploration and planning for the development of the Wheatstone and Greater Gorgon area gas fields.

The company has a "succession plan" which allows the non-employee directors to annually review candidates for all senior management positions, ensuring that qualified candidates are available for all positions and that development plans are utilised to strengthen the skills and qualifications of the candidates.