By Angela Chen
Chemicals company LyondellBasell Industries has appointed
Bhavesh V. Patel as chief executive, succeeding James L. Gallogly,
who previously announced plans to retire.
The change is effective Jan. 12.
Mr. Gallogly said in September that he would retire in early
2015 from LyondellBasell, which has operations including plastics,
chemicals and refining.
Mr. Patel most recently served as executive vice president of
olefins and polyolefins. He previously worked at Chevron Corp. and
Chevron Phillips Chemical Co., and joined LyondellBasell in March
2010 as senior vice president of O&P. He was promoted to
executive vice president in October 2013 and appointed to the
management board in April.
The Houston-based chemicals-and-polymer producer has posted high
revenue and earnings growth in the past few quarters, a large
turnaround since it emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2010. In
its most recently ended quarter, earnings rose 6.7%, led by a 40%
increase in operating revenue from one of Mr. Patel's segment:
olefins in the Americas.
Shares of LyondellBasell, which were inactive premarket, are
down about 6% this year.
Write to Angela Chen at angela.chen@wsj.com
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