McGill, 64, manages the company's exploration and production subsidiary and is a member of the five-person committee, along with Chief Executive Officer Rex Tillerson, that directs day-to-day operations. Irving, Texas-based Exxon Mobil posted a $39.5 billion profit last year, the largest ever for a U.S. corporation, surpassing the old record set by Exxon in 2005.
McGill's replacement has not been determined, spokesman Mark Boudreaux said in an e-mail. The company announced McGill's retirement today in a statement distributed via Business Wire. Mark Albers, 50, was promoted in April to senior vice president, the same rank as McGill, and is overseeing some of the subsidiaries in McGill's portfolio.
McGill, who studied chemical engineering at Sydney University in Australia, joined Exxon in 1969 and has managed oil and natural-gas projects in Malaysia, Australia, the Netherlands and the U.S. He was appointed senior vice president in charge of the company's upstream business in October 2004.
The upstream unit accounted for 66 percent of Exxon Mobil's net income last year. Refining accounted for 22 percent, followed by 11 percent from chemicals and the remainder from corporate and financing activities.
Refining and chemicals chief J. Stephen Simon and Treasurer Donald Humphreys, both senior vice presidents, are the other two members of the management committee, which will revert to a four-person structure when McGill steps down.
