Occidental Petroleum
| File:Oxy logo.jpg | |
| Company type | Public (NYSE: OXY) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Oil and gas |
| Founded | 1920 |
| Headquarters | Los Angeles, California |
Key people | Ray R. Irani, Chairman and CEO |
| Products | Oil Natural gas Petrochemicals |
| Revenue | $11.37 billion USD (2004) |
13,304,000,000 United States dollar (2022)  | |
Number of employees | 7,209 |
| Website | www.oxy.com |
Occidental Petroleum Corporation ("Oxy") NYSE: OXY is an international petroleum exploration and development company headquartered in the Westwood district of Los Angeles.
It has also had interests in other forms of energy such as coal, and the production of other minerals such as phosphates.
For many years Occidental was headed by the late Armand Hammer, who was noted for his long-term friendly relationship with the Soviet Union, which made the company controversial in some quarters during the Cold War. Occidental Petroleum under its then chairman and CEO Armand Hammer was the first western oil company to sign a deal with Libya under Muammar Ghaddafi in the early 1970's giving the Libyans 55% of the share of the revenues of Occidental's oil facilities at Kufra. This agreement destroyed the stranglehold that the big oil companies such as Shell and BP--had on Libya. Soon, the rest of the western oil companies were compelled to accede to Libyan--and later, Arab--demands for increased oil revenues to the Arab producers as well as an increase in the price of oil.
Company History
Involvement at Love Canal
In 1942, a subsidiary of Occidental, Hooker Chemical and Plastics Corporation, started disposing of chemical waste in the Love Canal region, although other companies and the US military had used it as a chemical disposal site since the 1920s. In 1947, Hooker Chemicals became the owner and sole user of the land. In 1952 the site was filled to capacity and closed off. Later in the 1950s the local school board convinced Hooker, under threat of expropriation, to sell the land to them with the intent of using an unused area of the dump to build a school in. Hooker Chemical sold the land to the school board for $1 and gave a warning that the site contained "some plant waste" but did not provide details about the toxic chemicals buried at the site, nor the amount buried. A school was built on the site and later a middle class residential district was built up on the land adjacent to the site. It is worth noting that Hooker Chemical repeatedly tried to warn the school board to not develop or sell parts of the land, as Hooker knew that if the 4 foot clay cap was broken, chemicals could start leaking out. In the late 1970s there was increasing awareness of health issues in the Love Canal region, including high rates of cancer and birth defects. Soon after it became a national issue in the US and in 1980 then president Jimmy Carter declared a federal emergency in the area. Residents of the area were eventually relocated and Occidental reportedly spent over $200 million to clean up the site.
Piper Alpha disaster
In July 6, 1988 Occidental's Alpha offshore production platform in the Piper oilfield in the North Sea exploded after a gas leak. 167 workers lost their lives in the world's worst offshore disaster.
Caño Limón Massacre
On December 13, 1998, Seventeen civilians, including 7 children, were killed as a result of the bombing of the hamlet of Santo Domingo, Colombia. The attack was carried by a Colombian Air Force helicopter using a U.S. cluster bomb. The L.A. Times documented the attack and showed that this bombing was carried out at the behest of Occidental Petroleum which provided the skymaster plane utilized by its security contractor (AirScan) to give the coordinates for the bombing and which hosted the planning of the bombing raid at its offices in Caño Limón, Colombia.[1] A law suit was attempted in April, 2003 against Occidental Petroleum by Luis Alberto Galvis Mujica, a witness and survivor of the massacre.[2]
Recent opportunities and resistance
From 1992 to 2001, Occidental Petroleum incurred substantial resistance in its attempts to drill for oil in the territory of the U'wa people in northeast Colombia. The resistance was apparently over concern for environmental damage, tribal beliefs (the group believe that oil is the "blood of the earth" and should not be removed) and fear that development would bring strangers and violence to their region. They believe oil infrastructure will be a target for violent leftist guerillas in the country. After years of shareholder resolutions, legal battles, extensive civil disobedience and a failed test well, the company abandoned the project, which is now continued by Repsol YPF.
In 1998, the US Government sold the Elk Hills Naval Petroleum Reserve to Occidental Petroleum for USD 3.65 billion. The advertised purpose of this sale was to reduce the national debt, and reduce the size of government, as the Reserve was no longer strategically necessary. Critics of government cited Vice President Al Gore's involvement with the company as proof of graft.[3]
In 2005, Occidental Petroleum and partner Liwa won eight out of fifteen exploration spots on the EPSA-4 auction, making both companies among the first to enter the Libyan market since the United States lifted its embargo on that country.
In August of the same year, the company was accused of 42 legal violations in Ecuador, including environmental destruction and espionage. As a result the Ecuadorian government refused to renew a contract for oil field exploration [1]. Ecuadorian protestors in the northeast part of the country are calling for the withdrawal of Occidental.
Outstanding lawsuits
On May 10, 2007, a group of 25 indigenous Achuar Peruvians filed suit against Occidental Petroleum, demanding cleanup and reparations for environmental damages allegedly caused by Occidental over a period of 30 years, during which time the company ignored industry standards and environmental regulations by dumping a total of 9 billion barrels of toxic oil byproducts in watersheds used by the Achuar people for fishing, drinking, and bathing. The Achuar are represented by Los Angeles-based EarthRights International (ERI) and the law firm Schonbrun DeSimone Seplow Harris & Hoffman LLP (SDSHH).[2]
The Greenmail Case
In 1984, David Murdoch owned about 5% of Occidental Petroleum's stock, and he put pressure on Occidental's management to take action to improve the value of its stock. The firm chose to pay greenmail to buy back shares from David Murdoch at $40.10 while the market price was $28.75.
Gore Family Ties
Occidental's coal interests were represented for many years by attorney and former U.S. Senator Albert Gore, Sr., among others. Gore, who had a long-time close friendship with Hammer, became the head of its subsidiary Island Creek Coal Company upon his election loss in the Senate. Much of Oxy's coal and phosphate production was from Tennessee, the state Gore represented in the Senate, and Gore owned shares of stock in the company. Because the stock passed to his estate after his death, his son and executor at the time, former Vice President Albert Gore, Jr. received much criticism from environmentalists. [4] [5] However, Al Gore Jr. did not exercise control over the stock, which was eventually sold when the estate closed. [6][7]
See also
External links
- Occidental Petroleum Corporation
- Article Regarding Hooker Chemical Dumping
- Details regarding dumping by Hooker Chemical
References
- "Gore's Oil Money" by Ken Silverstein, The Nation, May 3, 2000, retrieved May 30, 2006
- "Ecuador Breaks with Washington over Occidental Petroleum" The Council on Hemispheric Affairs
- ^ Adbuster #67 Volume 14 Number 5 Ecuador vs. Occidental
- ^ http://amazonwatch.org/view_news.php?id=1388