Chevron says it has appointed Finance Chief Eimear Bonner to become the new head of the company's oil and gas division, a role previously held by Mark Nelson, its vice chairman.

Bonner, 52, had been appointed CFO in March 2024 after serving as chief technology officer, and, prior to that role, leading the U.S. oil giant's business in Kazakhstan, where Chevron has one of its most important assets, the sprawling Tengiz oil field.

Nelson, who represented Chevron in a televised White House meeting in January, will remain vice chairman. The role changes are set to occur in January 2027.

The Houston-based oil producer also tapped Jeff Gustavson, head of Chevron's new energies unit, to become the company's next CFO. In that role, Gustavson, 54, presided over the company's foray into a myriad of low-carbon businesses, including its venture into providing power for an AI data center.

The management changes are sure to interest investors trying to predict who might succeed Chevron CEO Mike Wirth, 65. Both Bonner and Gustavson have been seen as candidates to lead the company after Wirth, whose tenure is seen as a tough act to follow. In 2023, Chevron's board waived the company's mandatory retirement age of 65 so Wirth could keep leading the company.

Under Wirth, Chevron made a transformative $53 billion acquisition of Hess after a prolonged arbitration with ExxonMobil. He held the company's position as Venezuela's largest foreign investor despite years of political uncertainty prior to the U.S. ouster of ex-President Nicolás Maduro. Wirth also moved Chevron's headquarters from San Ramon, Calif., to Houston, and presided over record earnings and turbocharged shareholder payouts via dividends and share buybacks.