Second-largest oil company ditches California for Texas to avoid increased regulations

Company cited Golden State’s regulations and climate lawsuit in decision to leave

Chevron, the second-largest US oil company, plans to leave its historic headquarters in California and relocate to Texas over the next five years, citing increased regulations and state climate action.

The company, whose corporate forerunners have been based in the state since 1879, will shift its headquarters to Houston, Texas.

“We believe California has a number of policies that raise costs, that hurt consumers, that discourage investment and ultimately we think that’s not good for the economy in California and for consumers,” Chevron CEO Mike Wirth told The Wall Street Journal.

In the last year, California passed a law putting limits on excess profit-making from refiners and sued major oil companies, including Chevron, alleging they deceived the public about the climate risks of fossil fuels for decades. The state also taxes corporate income, while Texas does not.

“We believe that climate is a matter that’s a global issue and is best addressed through national and global policy engagement, and not through the courts,” Wirth added in his interview with the Journal.

Chevron plans to relocate from California to Houston, Texas (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Chevron has operations across California, including 2,000 employees at a corporate campus in San Ramon, and a large refinery complex in Richmond.

Its large footprint hasn’t stopped California officials from scrutinizing Chevron’s role in the climate crisis.

“For decades and decades, the oil industry has been playing each and every one of us in this room for fools,” California governor Gavin Newsom said at a 2023 speech at the UN, shortly after the suit against oil companies was filed.

“They have been buying off politicians. They’ve been denying and delaying science and fundamental information that they were privy to that they didn’t share or they manipulated. Their deceit and denial going back decades, have created the conditions that persist here today.”

Chevron isn’t the only major corporate tenant leaving the state.

Elon Musk has worked to move the headquarters of X, SpaceX, and Tesla, to Texas in recent years.

Other companies have joined the trend, including HP Enterprise and Oracle, who both left California in 2020 for Texas.