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NEWSWATCH March 4-17, 2014
Oxy’s California Spinoff To Retain Long Beach Workforce, Operations ■ By SAMANTHA MEHLINGER Staff Writer Long Beach employees of Occidental Petroleum may rest easy following the announcement that the corporation is dividing its California assets to create an independent, separately traded company by the end of the year or by early 2015. Susie Geiger, director of external relations for the company, told the Business Journal that these employees’ jobs are likely to remain secure. “Current Long Beach area employees can safely assume that they will become a part of the new California company,” she said via e-mail. Occidental, commonly called “Oxy,” currently has more than 8,000 employees and contractors in California and “a significant presence in the Long Beach area,” Geiger said. The company’s subsidiary, Oxy Long Beach, Inc., operates wells on behalf of both the City of Long Beach and the state in the Tidelands trust area, which includes parts of the Wilmington Oil Field and the THUMS oil islands.
Long Beach Business Journal 9 “We are still early in the planning process for the new California company, but at this time the impacts on our existing Long Beach operations are expected to be minimal,” Geiger explained. “Oxy has been a part of the Long Beach community for well over 10 years and we don’t anticipate changes to our community initiatives.” The California company’s location is still up in the air, according to Geiger, who could not confirm if a list of locations under consideration currently exists. Occidental Petroleum Corporation’s current headquarters are in Los Angeles, although they will be relocated to Houston following the corporate division. The management team for the California company should be announced in the third quarter of this year, according to a statement from Oxy. Geiger said that the new company’s name has not yet been selected. The California company’s assets will include 2.3 million net acres of land with major operations in Los Angeles, San Joaquin, Ventura and Sacramento. Last year, Oxy’s California assets garnered $1.5 billion before taxes, according to a statement from the company. Oxy’s board of directors authorized the split in February. President and CEO Stephen I. Chazen said in a statement, “Creating two separate energy companies will result in more focused businesses that will be competitive industry leaders.” Chazen is remaining in his position through 2016. ■
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