APA Corp. elected H. Lamar McKay as the next chairman of its board following the decision by its current chairman, John E. Lowe, to retire.

“We would like to thank John for his longstanding service to APA, as board chair since 2015, and as a director since 2013,” McKay commented in a company release on July 14.

APA said the change will be effective Sept. 1, following a transition period.

“We are pleased to announce Lamar will be assuming the role of APA board chair following my retirement,” Lowe said in the release. “Lamar is a respected leader in the industry, with over 40 years of international natural gas and oil experience, and his appointment is a testament to his excellent working relationship with all of our board and senior management.”

McKay, 63, was appointed to the APA board in February 2021 and has served on the corporate responsibility, governance, and nominating committee and the management development and compensation committee.

He began his career in 1980 with Amoco (now BP) and held leadership positions of increasing responsibility.

Previously, he served as the chief transition officer of BP Plc from October 2019 until his retirement in December 2020. He previously served as BP’s deputy CEO since February 2016. Prior to that role, from January 2013, McKay was the CEO of BP’s worldwide upstream business. He was also chairman and president of BP America Inc. and executive vice president of BP since January 2009.

“On behalf of the entire board, we welcome Lamar as our next board chair,” Lowe added.

Lowe, who joined the APA board of directors in July 2013, became non-executive chairman in May 2015. Prior to joining the board, Lowe, 63, had a 30-year career with ConocoPhillips Co. and Phillips Petroleum Co.

He had previously served as assistant to the CEO of ConocoPhillips, a position he held from 2008 until Phillips 66 was spun off from ConocoPhillips in 2012. Prior to that, he held a series of executive positions with ConocoPhillips, including executive vice president of E&P, executive vice presidentof commercial and executive vice president of planning, strategy and corporate affairs.

Lowe also serves as a member of the board of directors for Phillips 66 and TC Energy Corp.

“John’s leadership helped guide the company through some of the most challenging years of its 68-year history,” McKay added. “We greatly appreciate his vision, strategic guidance and commitment and wish him the best in his future efforts.”

Based in Houston, APA is an E&P company that owns consolidated subsidiaries that explore for and produce oil and natural gas in the U.S., Egypt and the U.K. and that explore for oil and natural gas offshore Suriname.

The company was founded as Apache Oil Corp. in 1954 by Truman Anderson, Raymond Plank and Charles Arnao. In 2021, Apache Corp. moved to a holding company structure under APA Corp., the public company trading on the NASDAQ stock exchange.