WAYNE, NJ — BP Lubricants Americas, maker of the Castrol brand of lubricants, has promoted Paul Waterman from his existing role as U.S. general manager to chief executive for BP Lubricants Americas, assuming full responsibility for the company’s lubricants business across North and South America.

Effective May 1, Waterman succeeds Peter Meola, who has led the company for the past six years, during which time the business has achieved record performance and grown significantly. Meola has decided to retire from BP to pursue other career options.

Waterman joined Castrol’s U.S. operations in 1994, and quickly rose to be general manager for the North America retail sales unit. Following BP’s acquisition of Burmah Castrol in 2000, Waterman moved to the U.K. as head of BP’s UK fuels and convenience retailing business, overseeing 1,400 company and dealer owned gas stations with annual sales exceeding $7 billion and leading the rollout of BP’s new convenience retailing format, BP Connect. He was also a board member of the BP/Safeway joint venture (Safeway is a major U.K. food retailer now owned by Morrison’s) and led BP into a new consumer loyalty program, Nectar, now the largest such program in the U.K.

In late 2002 Waterman was appointed as executive assistant to Dr. Byron Grote, the BP group chief financial officer, working at the company’s London, U.K. headquarters.

Returning to the U.S. in 2004, Waterman was appointed regional vice president for the Arco am/pm convenience retailing business, based in La Palma, CA, where he oversaw retail operations and led the implementation of a franchise revitalization program on the West coast. He returned to the U.S. lubricants business in 2006 as general manager for U.S. operations.

Waterman majored in packaging engineering at Michigan State University, before going on to receive his MBA from New York University. Following college he joined Reckitt Benckiser, and subsequently worked at Kraft Foods and Nabisco in a variety of sales and marketing roles.