as nyse oxy s & p 500 component industry oil and gas founded june 1920 headquarters 5 greenway plaza suite 110 houston texas 77046 key people stephen i. chazen president & ceo until 2016 1 products oil natural gas petrochemicals production output 680 thousand barrels of oil equivalent 4 200 000 gj per day q4 2015 2 revenue us 12.699 billion 2015 2 net income us 7.829 billion 2015 2 total assets us 43.708 billion 2015 2 total equity us 24.350 billion 2015 2 number of employees 11 100 7 100 of which are in the united states 2015 3 website www.oxy.com occidental petroleum corporation oxy is an american houston based oil and gas exploration and production company with operations in the united states the middle east region and south america . in 2015 it was the 16th largest gas producer 4 and 3rd largest oil producer in texas . 5 often abbreviated as oxy in reference to its ticker symbol the company is ranked 364 on the forbes global 2000 list . 6 contents 1 current operations 1.1 oil and gas 1.1.1 united states 1.1.2 middle east and north africa 1.1.3 latin america 1.2 chemical 2 history 2.1 tenure of ray r. irani 2.2 former areas of operation 2.2.1 california 2.2.2 williston basin north dakota 2.2.3 argentina 2.2.4 ecuador 2.2.5 brazil 2.3 phibro energy trading 2.4 research in oil shale 2.5 historical financial performance 3 controversies 3.1 corporate social responsibility 3.2 libya 3.3 environmental record 3.3.1 love canal 3.3.2 oleum spil 3.3.3 colombia 3.3.3.1 ca o lim n 3.3.4 maynas carijano v. occidental petroleum 3.4 political record 3.4.1 front group creation 3.4.2 gore family 3.5 safety record 3.5.1 piper alpha 3.6 greenmail 4 businesses 5 see also 6 references 7 external links current operations edit vicki hollub who has worked at occidental for around three decades was announced to be the new ceo effective as of the 2016 annual shareholders meeting . 7 oil and gas edit occidental s oil and gas operations are focused in three core areas the united states latin america and the middle east . occidental had approximately 2.8 billion barrels of oil equivalent net proved reserves at december 31 2014 . 8 in the fourth quarter of 2015 the company had average daily production of 671 thousand barrels of oil equivalent 4 110 000 gj . 2 united states edit occidental s united states operations produced 312 thousand barrels of oil equivalent 1 910 000 gj per day in the 4th quarter of 2015 46 percent of its total production . this included 51 thousand barrels of oil equivalent 310 000 gj per day of production in its mid continent operations in colorado and south texas as well as 261 thousand barrels of oil equivalent 1 600 000 gj per day of production in the permian basin . the 261 thousand barrels of oil equivalent 1 600 000 gj per day of production in the permian basin included 143 thousand barrels of oil equivalent 870 000 gj per day of production using a technique called enhanced oil recovery whereby carbon dioxide is injected into underground formations to extract the oil and gas . 2 middle east and north africa edit occidental s middle east and north africa operations produced 320 thousand barrels of oil equivalent 2 000 000 gj per day in the 4th quarter of 2015 47 percent of its total production . 2 the region also holds 28 percent of the company s proved reserves . 3 in the middle east occidental has operations in libya oman qatar bahrain iraq the united arab emirates and yemen . 9 oxy is the largest independent oil producer in oman . 10 in qatar it is a partial owner in the dolphin natural gas project which delivers gas to oman and the united arab emirates . 11 in early 2011 occidental won a contract to join abu dhabi s state oil company in developing the shah natural gas project one of the largest natural gas fields in the middle east . 12 the company s only north african operation is in libya . in 2005 occidental and partner liwa won eight out of 15 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 libya . the company is now seeking to sell its libyan operations . 13 latin america edit in latin america occidental operates in bolivia and colombia . 14 occidental s share of production from its latin america assets was approximately 38 thousand barrels of oil equivalent 230 000 gj and 8 million cubic feet of natural gas per day in the fourth quarter of 2015 . 2 in colombia occidental and ecopetrol the state owned oil company discovered the giant ca o lim n oilfield in 1983 . it proved to be the largest discovery in colombia s oil history and helped return the country to oil exporter status . 15 chemical edit occidental chemical based in dallas is a leading chemical manufacturer with interests in basic chemicals vinyls and performance chemical products . 16 oxy s wholly owned chemical subsidiaries include occidental chemical corporation oxychem oxyvinyls and indspec chemical corporation . oxychem is a dallas texas based manufacturer of polyvinyl chloride pvc resins chlorine and caustic soda used in plastics pharmaceuticals and water treatment chemicals . other products manufactured by the company include caustic potash chlorinated organics sodium silicates chlorinated isocyanurates and calcium chloride . oxychem has manufacturing facilities in the united states canada and chile . 17 in a joint venture with church & dwight oxy owns armand products company which sells potassium carbonate and potassium bicarbonate . 18 in october 2013 oxychem and mexichem announced the formation of a 50 50 joint venture ingleside ethylene llc to build a 1.2 billion pound per year capacity ethylene cracker at the oxychem plant in ingleside texas along with pipelines and storage at markham texas . construction is expected to be completed in 2017 . 19 history edit occidental was founded in 1920 in california . in 1956 occidental petroleum came to the attention of armand hammer . 20 at hammer s first association with occidental the company was run by dave harris roy roberts and john sullivan . in 1957 dr. armand hammer was elected president and ceo . in 1961 the company discovered the lathrop gas field in the arbuckle area of the sacramento basin at lathrop . 21 over the next 10 years occidental expanded internationally with operations in libya peru venezuela bolivia trinidad and the united kingdom . occidental won exploration rights in libya in 1965 and operated there until all activities were suspended in 1986 after the united states imposed economic sanctions on libya . occidental entered the chemical business with the acquisition of hooker chemical company in 1968 26 years after the contamination at love canal . it added to its chemical industries portfolio in 1988 with the outright purchase for 2 billion of cain chemical . 22 on july 6 1988 an explosion and subsequent inferno on the piper alpha platform operated by occidental petroleum caledonia ltd in the scottish north sea resulted in 167 fatalities in what remains the world s most deadly offshore disaster . 23 tenure of ray r. irani edit in 1990 dr. ray r. irani became occidental petroleum corporation s chairman and ceo . he held the additional title of president from 2005 to 2007 . occidental petroleum s compensation policies came under scrutiny in 2007 after it was announced that ceo ray irani collected 460 million in stock shares and salary in 2006 . 24 in may 2011 irani retired as ceo after the california state teachers retirement system and relational investors two major institutional occidental shareholders objected to the company s compensation policies for top executives . 25 president stephen i. chazen was named ceo of occidental to replace irani . 26 since 1990 occidental has gone from a collection of unrelated businesses to one that focuses on oil and gas . 27 during irani s tenure as ceo occidental s market capitalization increased to more than 80 billion from 5.4 billion . 28 former areas of operation edit california edit occidental formerly owned 100 % of california resources corporation the largest producer of oil and natural gas on a gross operated barrels of oil equivalent basis in california . 29 occidental distributed 80.5 % of its shares in california resources corporation to occidental shareholders in december 2014 . 30 williston basin north dakota edit in 2010 oxy acquired shale oil properties in the williston basin in north dakota for 1.4 billion . 31 these assets as well as other assets acquired by oxy in the williston basin were sold in 2015 for 600 million . 32 argentina edit in 2011 occidental sold its oil and gas operations in argentina to sinopec a subsidiary of china petrochemical corporation . these assets included proven and probable reserves of 393 million 393 million barrels of oil equivalent 2.40 109 gj . 33 ecuador edit occidental formerly operated in block 15 of the amazon rainforest in ecuador . the government of ecuador seized the company s interest in 2006 and in 2016 the government agreed to pay 980 million in restitution to occidental for the seizure . 34 brazil edit in 2013 oxychem sold its investment in unipar carbocloro for r 550 million . 35 phibro energy trading edit in 2009 oxy acquired citigroup s controversial phibro energy trading business for its net asset value of approximately 250 million . 36 the unit was managed by andrew j. hall who received compensation of approximately 100 million per year in 2007 and 2008 . after the acquisition the division reported its first losses since the 1990s . 37 in 2016 phibro was wound down and sold . 38 research in oil shale edit starting in 1972 occidental oil shale inc. a subsidiary of occidental petroleum began research on a shale oil extraction process . 39 the company conducted the first modified in situ oil shale experiment in 1972 at logan wash colorado . 39 the process used explosives to create underground chambers retorts of fractured oil shale . about 20 % was mined out after which blasting was used to fracture oil shale . the commercial sized retort covered 333 by 166 feet 101 by 51 m area and had height of 400 feet 120 m . oil shale was then ignited on the top by external fuel and air or steam was injected to control the process . as a result combustion moved from the top to the bottom of retort . 40 during the process four major zones could be identified . in the pre heat zone air contacted processed hot shale spent shale which pre heated air . in the combustion zone oxygen in air was used to burn carbon residue in the spent shale . below this zone heated gas caused retorting process converting kerogen in oil shale to oil shale gas and shale oil vapors . in the final zone oil and gas were cooled and collected through separation sump and collecting well . 39 40 all together six retorts have been burned at the site . 39 historical financial performance edit as of december 31 2015 occidental was one of the largest u.s. oil and gas companies measured by market capitalization with a market capitalization of approximately 51 billion . 3 occidental petroleum financial performance fiscal year market capitalization billions 41 42 revenue billions 42 43 income before income taxes billions 43 44 2005 32.112 16.259 7.133 2006 41.070 18.160 7.830 2007 63.794 20.013 8.572 2008 48.585 24.480 11.371 2009 66.050 15.531 4.669 2010 79.735 19.157 7.359 2011 75.992 24.119 8.718 2012 61.710 24.172 6.125 2013 75.699 24.445 7.751 2014 62.119 19.312 1.224 2015 51.632 12.480 9.684 controversies edit corporate social responsibility edit while subject to criticisms and controversies