Occidental Petroleum Corporation ("Oxy") NYSE: OXY is an international oil and gas
exploration and production company with operations in the United States, the
Middle East, North Africa, and South America. The company nickname “Oxy” began
in 1964 in reference to Occidental’s NYSE stock ticker. Headquartered in Los Angeles,
California, Oxy is the fourth largest U.S. oil and gas company, based on
equity market capitalization. Oxy is the largest oil producer in Texas and the
largest natural gas producer in California, with additional operations in Kansas,
Oklahoma, Colorado and New Mexico.
Oxy's wholly-owned subsidiary,
OxyChem, manufactures and markets chlor-alkali products and vinyls.
Oxy
was founded in 1920. In 1957 Dr. Armand Hammer was elected president and
CEO. In 1961, Oxy discovered California's second largest natural gas field in the
Arbuckle area of the Sacramento basin at Lathrop. Over the next 10 years, Oxy
expanded worldwide operations with efforts in Libya, Peru, Venezuela, Bolivia,
Trinidad and the United Kingdom. Occidental won exploration rights in Libya in
1965 and achieved exploration and development success until all activities were
suspended in 1986 as the result of economic sanctions imposed by the United
States government. In 1968, Oxy entered the chemical business with the acquisition
of Hooker Chemicals. This was 26 years after the contamination at Love Canal.
On July 6, 1988 a fire on Piper Alpha, an oil platform in the North Sea, caused
the biggest disaster in offshore oil industry's history. Today Occidental Chemical
Corporation (OxyChem) is a leading chemical manufacturer with interests
in basic chemicals, vinyls and performance chemical products. In 1994, Dr. Ray
Irani became President and CEO of Oxy.
In 2005, Oxy was among 53 entities
that contributed the maximum of $250,000 to the second inauguration of President
George W. Bush. |
