Occidental Petroleum, a global oil and gas company, announced key leadership appointments on August 10, and Sunil Mathew has been named as its Chief Financial Officer for the next three years. 

Mathew will be succeeding Robert Peterson, who was Senior VP and CFO until the leadership rejig. Peterson will now be leading Occidental's chemical division as EVP. The finance leadership shuffle at Occidental is quite frequent, therefore, no particular reason has been mentioned in the exchange filing on August 9, 2023. The exchange filing stated, “Robert Peterson was appointed Executive Vice President, Essential Chemistry, of Occidental Chemical Corporation. Sunil Mathew was appointed Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the Company effective as of August 9, 2023.”

Mathew joined Occidental in 2004 and was currently acting as VP of strategic planning and analysis since 2014. He played a pivotal role in the company's large-scale divestiture program of approximately $10 billion, which was announced following the Anadarko acquisition, as stated in the exchange filing. 

Mathew possesses 25 years of experience in the oil and gas industry. His most recent role was as Vice President of Strategic Planning, Analysis, and Business Development since April 2020, during which he oversaw the Company's planning and global business development functions. In this capacity, he provided support to the management in crafting short and long-term plans, annual capital allocation, and tracking business unit performance. 

In his previous roles, Mathew worked with Schlumberger in the Middle East and Asia. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electronics Engineering from Manipal Institute of Technology, India, and an MBA from T.A. Pai Management Institute, India.

On the other hand, Peterson, who continues to hold the position of Senior VP, possesses a wealth of engineering, operational, and financial leadership experience, rendering him exceptionally well-equipped to deliver vision, capability, and success in this new leadership role as EVP.

Before taking on this new role, Peterson, who became a part of OxyChem in 1996, occupied significant positions at Occidental. These included serving as Senior VP for Permian EOR, Occidental Oil and Gas; VP for Permian Strategy, Occidental Oil and Gas; Director for Permian EOR Business Area, Occidental Oil and Gas; and President of OxyChem.