Feb 15 (Reuters) - U.S. oil refiner HF Sinclair Corp on Wednesday named President Tim Go to become chief executive of the eighth largest U.S. refiner by capacity on May 9.

Go, 56, has been president and chief operating officer of HF Sinclair since November 2021. He succeeds Michael Jennings, 57, who will continue as CEO until May 8.

Go was CEO of the general partner of Calumet Specialty Products and earlier worked at head of operations at Koch Industries' Flint Hills Resources. He worked at Exxon Mobil Corp for nearly two decades.

"Tim is well respected in the industry," said Matthew Blair, a managing director and head of refining research at financial firm Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co.

Go will be paid $1.1 million a year as CEO, up from $900,000 previously, and receive a $3.75 million grant of long-term incentive awards in restricted and performance shares, the company said in a securities filling.

Jennings, who led the Dallas-based company through two mergers during two separate stints as CEO, will leave the board at the next annual meeting, the company said.

He became CEO of HollyFrontier in 2021 after its merger with Frontier Oil, left for a time, and rejoined as CEO to oversee the combination with Sinclair Oil a decade later. The company now processes 670,000 barrels of oil per day at five U.S. refineries. (Reporting by Ankit Kumar and Nathan Gomes; Additional reporting by Gary McWilliams. Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri and David Gregorio)