On Thursday, Occidental Petroleum confirmed that its assets will become part of a separate business titled California Resources Group by the end of 2014. The documents permitting the switch were filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Occidental had stated in February that its headquarters would be transferred to Houston, and that it would make its California entity (California Resources) into a separate business that would be publicly traded. California Resources is being wooed by Long Beach in an attempt to take the business from Los Angeles.
California Resources intends to ramp up oil and gas production in California by using more modern technology and more capital spending. The company stated:
We believe that over the last several decades the oil and gas industry has focused significantly less on utilizing modern development and exploration processes and technologies in California relative to other prolific U.S. basins. As an independent company focused exclusively on California, we expect to drive strong production growth.
Occidental Chief Executive Steve Chazen said California Resources would find available areas to mine oil and gas, even with opponents of fracking trying to block their way. He said, “When the California company is up and running, one of their major tasks and major focus will be on dealing with the political issues in California. The political guy wants to talk about fracking or something. He doesn’t necessarily know anything about it.”
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