Occidental Petroleum
Occidental Petroleum Corporation (often abbreviated Oxy in reference to its ticker symbol and logo) is an American company engaged in hydrocarbon exploration in the United States, and the Middle East as well as petrochemical manufacturing in the United States, Canada, and Chile. It is organized in Delaware and headquartered in Houston. The company ranked 183rd on the 2021 Fortune 500 based on its 2020 revenues[3] and 670th on the 2021 Forbes Global 2000.[4]
Company type
June 1909
Houston, Texas, U.S.
- Vicki Hollub, CEO & President
- Cedric W. Burgher, CFO
- Eugene L. Batchelder, Chairman
3,512 thousand barrels of oil equivalent (21,490,000 GJ) per day (2021)
11,618 (Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2021)[1]
Operations[edit]
Oil and gas[edit]
The company's oil and gas operations are concentrated in three geographic areas: the United States, the Middle East, and Colombia. As of December 31, 2020, Occidental had 2.911 billion barrels of oil equivalent (1.781×1010 GJ) of oil equivalent net proved reserves, of which 51% was petroleum, 19% was natural gas liquids, and 30% was natural gas. In 2020, the company had production of 1,350 thousand barrels of oil equivalent (8,300,000 GJ) per day.[2]
Controversies[edit]
Lobbying to do business in Libya[edit]
The company began operations in Libya in 1965 and operated there until economic sanctions were imposed in 1986 by the United States.[8] The company was one of the first American companies to resume negotiations in Libya after the sanctions were lifted in 2004.[67] In 2008, the company, along with 5 other oil companies, was criticized for hiring Hogan Lovells to lobby to exempt Libya from a law written by U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) to assist American terror victims in seizing assets of countries found culpable in terror attacks, such as the Libyan bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie in 1988.[68] and to remove a provision in the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act that requires disclosure of payments to foreign governments.[69] In early 2011, the company ceased exploration activities and production operations in Libya due to the growing civil unrest in the country and U.S. sanctions. In June 2011, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and United Kingdom prosecutors requested information from the company, ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips related to the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA), an investment firm controlled by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, to determine if there were any violations of international bribery laws.[70][71] The Libyan Investment Authority's investments were frozen by the U.S. government in early 2011 following the Gaddafi regime's attacks on Libyan civilians.[70] In 2016, the company ceased operations in Libya.
Environmental record[edit]
In 2017, the company was ranked 55th on the Carbon Majors Report, a list of the Top 100 producers and their cumulative greenhouse gas emissions from 1988-2015.[72]
The company has stated that its use of enhanced oil recovery for a portion of its production is one way it helps mitigate its high emissions.[2][73]