California Resources Corp. announced a series of executive changes Tuesday. The Chatsworth oil and gas producer said that William Albrecht will transition from executive chairman to non-executive chairman at the time of CRC’s annual stockholder meeting in May. The company also announced that after 16 years of service to CRC and its predecessor companies, Frank Komin, executive vice president of southern operations, has decided to retire. CRC spun off from Occidental Petroleum Corp. in December 2014 with Todd Stevens as chief executive. Since then, the price of oil has plummeted, raising concerns about how CRC can manage its debt load from the spinoff. “I have served in an executive chairman capacity to facilitate California Resources Corporation’s transition to a stand-alone company following the company’s spinoff in 2014,” Albrecht said in a statement. “Todd Stevens and CRC’s management team have demonstrated excellent foresight and decisive judgment during a challenging first year. I am fully confident that Todd and the senior management team will continue to effectively guide the company going forward.” Robert Barnes, an executive vice president who currently heads up CRC’s Northern Operations in the San Joaquin and Sacramento basins, will oversee statewide operations after Komin’s retirement. Shares closed down 5 cents or 9.2 percent to 51cents on the New York Stock Exchange.
