Occidental Petroleum Corp. announced Feb. 14 it is moving its headquarters from Westwood to Houston, Tex. and separating some of its assets into an independent and separately traded company to remain in California.
In Houston, Occidental will run its exploration and production operations while also maintaining its ventures in Colombia and the Middle East. The company’s chemical subsidiary, OxyChem, as well as its marketing and midstream divisions, will also be managed from Occidental’s new Houston headquarters.
The move to Houston will help the company, it believes to better position itself “to continue its strategy of generating growth with strong returns on capital and consistently increasing its dividend” while also reducing “its exposure to proprietary trading activities related to crude oil and other commodities.”
Here in California, a newly created corporate entity will be the State’s largest producer of natural gas, an Occidental statement said. The new company would employ 8,000 employees and contractors.
“This new company will be the largest oil and gas mineral acreage holder in the state with approximately 2.3 million net acres, and will have major operations in the state’s high-potential oil and gas basins, including Los Angeles, San Joaquin, Ventura and Sacramento,” the Occidental statement said.
“Creating two separate energy companies will result in more focused businesses that will be competitive industry leaders,” Occidental president and CEO Stephen I. Chazen said.
Chazen will remain on board as Occidental’s president and CEO through 2016, the company stated.
Ambassador Edward P. Djerejian will serve an additional one-year term as Chairman of the Board.
Occidental plans to announce the management team for the California company by the third quarter of this year, with separation taking place by early 2015.
Occidental’s current headquarters is located at 10889 Wilshire Boulevard in Westwood.
