HOUSTON, Oct 7 (Reuters) - Chevron ( CVX ) on Tuesday

named a new head of global exploration as CEO Mike Wirth works

to improve the company's track record in discovering new sources

of oil and gas.

Kevin McLachlan will become vice president of exploration

effective Nov. 1, succeeding veteran executive Liz Schwarze, who

will retire in February after 36 years with Chevron ( CVX ), the U.S.

oil major said on Tuesday.

McLachlan has experience at several rival oil firms, most

recently as senior vice president of exploration at French oil

major TotalEnergies. He also previously held positions

at Murphy Oil ( MUR ), Nexen and Exxon Mobil ( XOM ).

Wirth has expressed disappointment with recent exploration

results. The company closed its

acquisition of smaller oil producer Hess

in July, giving a

much-needed boost

to Chevron's ( CVX ) oil and gas reserves. Wirth said exploration

needs to play an important role in the strategy going forward.

"I'm not happy with the results out of exploration over the

last few years," he said in August during the second-quarter

earnings conference call. He did acknowledge that the

exploration team had been operating in a narrow range with

reduced investment as Chevron ( CVX ) focused on growing U.S. shale and

balancing capital discipline.

Countries where Chevron ( CVX ) will pursue frontier exploration

include Suriname, Namibia and Egypt, said vice chairman Mark

Nelson during the August conference call.

In January, Chevron ( CVX ) said it did not find commercial

hydrocarbon reserves at an exploration well in

Namibia's Orange Basin

. UK-based Shell was also dealt a blow in the country,

writing down $400 million over an oil discovery it deemed

commercially unviable.

(Reporting by Arunima Kumar in Bengaluru and Sheila Dang in

Houston; Editing by Anil D'Silva and David Gregorio)