Occidental Petroleum Corporation

What does Occidental Petroleum own?
Occidental owns oil and gas production assets across the Permian Basin, DJ Basin, and Gulf of America in the US, plus operations in Oman, the UAE, Algeria, and Libya. It owns the 1PointFive carbon capture subsidiary and Oxy Low Carbon Ventures, and an equity interest in Western Midstream Partners. It sold its OxyChem chemical subsidiary to Berkshire Hathaway in January 2026.

Is Occidental Petroleum publicly traded?
Yes. Occidental trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker OXY and is a component of the S&P 500. The company has been public for decades and is one of the oldest names in the American oil industry.

Who founded Occidental Petroleum?
A group of California oilmen founded Occidental in Los Angeles in 1920. Armand Hammer took control in 1957 and built it into a major producer through the Libyan concessions and decades of acquisitions, running the company until his death in 1990.

Where is Occidental Petroleum headquartered?
Occidental is headquartered in Houston, Texas, USA. The company moved its headquarters from Los Angeles to Houston in the mid-2010s as it refocused on oil and gas and spun off its California business.

How many brands does Occidental Petroleum own?
Occidental operates mainly under the Oxy corporate brand and owns the 1PointFive carbon capture brand within its Oxy Low Carbon Ventures unit. Its former chemical brand, OxyChem, was sold to Berkshire Hathaway in January 2026.

Who owns Occidental Petroleum?
Occidental is owned by its public shareholders. Berkshire Hathaway is the largest shareholder with a common stock stake above 25 percent, plus a $10 billion preferred position and warrants acquired during the 2019 Anadarko financing. The remaining shares are held by institutional and retail investors.

Who is the CEO of Occidental Petroleum?
Richard Jackson has been President and CEO since June 1, 2026. He succeeded Vicki Hollub, who retired after a decade as CEO and remains on the board of directors. Jackson joined Occidental in 2003 and previously led its US onshore operations before becoming Chief Operating Officer.

Occidental Petroleum was founded in Los Angeles in 1920 by a group of California oilmen. For its first three decades it was a small, unremarkable producer. The transformation began in 1956 when Armand Hammer, a physician turned businessman with long-standing commercial ties to the Soviet Union, invested in the nearly dormant company and took effective control in 1957.

Hammer built Occidental through dealmaking. The decisive break came in Libya, where Occidental won concessions in 1966 and made one of the largest oil discoveries in that country's history, vaulting the company into the ranks of major producers virtually overnight. When Libya nationalized foreign oil assets in the early 1970s, Hammer parlayed the loss into trading relationships and new ventures, including fertilizer trade with the Soviet Union, where his political access was unmatched among Western executives.

Through the 1970s and 1980s, Occidental diversified aggressively. It acquired Island Creek Coal and Hooker Chemical in 1968, Cities Service in 1982 for about $4 billion after outmaneuvering Gulf Oil's own bid, and Midcon Corporation's pipeline business in 1986. Hammer ran the company until his death in December 1990.

Ray Irani succeeded Hammer and refocused Occidental on oil and gas, divesting coal, agribusiness, and other non-core holdings. The company expanded enhanced oil recovery operations in the Permian Basin, making it a leader in carbon dioxide injection decades before carbon capture became an industry focus. Irani retired in 2011 after more than two decades at the helm, followed by Steve Chazen, who ran the company until 2016 and oversaw the 2014 spin-off of its California onshore business as California Resources Corporation and the shift of headquarters from Los Angeles to Houston.

Vicki Hollub became CEO in 2016, the first woman to lead a major American oil company. Her tenure was defined by one deal: the 2019 acquisition of Anadarko Petroleum for approximately $55 billion including assumed debt. Occidental beat Chevron in a bidding war financed in part by a $10 billion preferred equity investment from Berkshire Hathaway at 8 percent interest plus warrants. The deal doubled Occidental's size and made it the largest Permian producer, but loaded it with roughly $40 billion of debt just before COVID-19 collapsed oil demand in 2020. The company cut its dividend to a penny, sold assets, and spent years repairing the balance sheet while activist Carl Icahn fought a public campaign over the Anadarko terms.

Recovery came with higher oil prices in 2021 and 2022. Berkshire Hathaway steadily accumulated Occidental shares in the open market through 2022 and 2023, becoming the largest shareholder with a stake above 25 percent. In August 2024 Occidental completed the acquisition of CrownRock for approximately $12 billion, deepening its Permian position. In October 2025 it agreed to sell OxyChem to Berkshire Hathaway for $9.7 billion in cash; the sale closed January 2, 2026 with an estimated gain of $3.2 billion, and proceeds went principally to debt reduction. The Hollub era ended with her retirement on June 1, 2026, with COO Richard Jackson named as successor.

Occidental was the first major US oil company to set a net-zero ambition covering Scope 3 emissions, the emissions from customers burning its products, targeting net zero before 2050 with a nearer net-zero goal for Scope 1 and 2 operations by 2040. The strategy rests partly on the carbon management business itself: direct air capture and sequestration hubs intended to generate carbon removal credits.

The carbon strategy has independent validation of a sort: STRATOS received EPA Class VI injection permits in April 2025, the first issued for CO2 sequestration from a DAC project, and its removal credits are issued under third-party standards with third-party verification. Critics note the fundamental tension that Occidental's largest investment remains oil production, and that captured CO2 has historically been used for enhanced oil recovery, which produces more oil. The company does not hold B Corp or equivalent consumer-facing certifications.

Anadarko Acquisition and Icahn Campaign (2019-2020): Activist investor Carl Icahn accused Occidental's board of overpaying for Anadarko and of structuring the Berkshire financing to avoid a shareholder vote. He launched a proxy fight and later settled for board seats. The $10 billion preferred's 8 percent dividend cost the company hundreds of millions annually during the subsequent downturn.

2020 Financial Distress: After COVID-19 collapsed oil demand, Occidental cut its dividend from $0.79 to $0.01 per quarter, one of the largest dividend cuts in energy sector history. Bond ratings fell to junk status before recovering with the balance sheet repair program.

Love Canal Legacy Liability: Occidental inherited environmental liability for the Love Canal disaster through its 1968 acquisition of Hooker Chemical, which had buried toxic waste at the Niagara Falls, New York site. The matter produced decades of litigation and Superfund proceedings; major claims were resolved through settlements including a 1994 agreement with the EPA.

Climate Litigation: Occidental is named in climate liability lawsuits brought by US states and municipalities seeking damages related to fossil fuel production. The cases, including suits by California and others, remain in various stages of litigation as of 2026, with the company contesting the claims.