Thread regarding Occidental Petroleum Corp. layoffs

I posted earlier that Exxon and Hess were sitting on 8 Billion barrels of oil in Guyana... It's now 11 billion barrels! Shareholders are looking for flat production??... Here that? It's the sound of another opportunity missed.... Oxy @ $58 today...$7 less than the APC acquisition price... Better talk to those high paid technical staff (before they retire) and start looking for some grease.

@3jgo+1mt2dqqT - to be fair, at the time of acquisition APC glory days in the GoM were all in the past, with no good recent discoveries.

It would have been tough to keep any of that technical talent, especially given attractive CoC.

But! Homegrown technical Oxy talent is a joke, GoM folk have to roll their eyes when they hear Greenway's questions in reviews.

Permian business is simpler, and those technical workers doesn't transfer their high job grades to the GoM domain that easily, but like to pretend that they do!

A great majority of the most senior technical staff I worked with at APC were worth every penny they were paid. Unfortunately for Oxy, many took the COC , retired or moved to other companies. The depth of experience APC had in Basin studies, Tech services and the various business units was impressive...It was sickening to see it carved up and scattered to the wind.
Oxy management should have tried much harder to keep what most consider some of the best oil and gas finders in the business.

@3zsa+1mt2dqqT

Seriously! This one recently minted fellow does not do jack sh!t. But has a long impressive resume. The disconnect about the actual value and compensation is irreconcilable.

“ I'd say from the first meet and greet with Vickie at APC we knew this was an Oxy takeover and not a merger... It was Oxy's vision all the way.” says poster below. Of course, any news report at the time stated very clearly that this was an acquisition, and not a merger. But congrats to the poster for figuring this out after the meet-and-greet. “Wait a minute, I thought this was a merger?”

@jlt+1mt2dqqT

These rigid rules on promoting people’s egos is very disturbing. What is this some of university setting with the “fellows” titles. These titles do not say these people add value at all and only serves to inflate egos and quite frankly irritate those who are not perceived as worthy.

@3cef+1mt2dqqT

Who'd buy Oxy? Permian may be nice, but GoM is so so. Lots of older platforms, no new projects. Keep patching up those rust buckets ...

I guess, back to Chevron we go once the debt is paid off.

@1sfp+1mt2dqqT

You are correct. When the debt is paid off the company will be bought and low carbon ventures will be shut down or sold. This effort is just wasting capital.

I'd say from the first meet and greet with Vickie at APC we knew this was an Oxy takeover and not a merger... It was Oxy's vision all the way. With APC/KMG , KMG came out on top and pulled a reverse takeover. All the big ticket projects we managed by KMG...
Between the COC and attrition, it is hard to believe that APC has taken the lead on anything... Chiefs have always had the power to move staff at will...That has nothing to do with tribes...Last time I looked, the chiefs were Oxy employees.

It is the clash of tribes. The Anadarkos vs the Apaches, while the Oxydians get trapped, taken out the tepee or forgotten. The tribal leaders that came in 2016 are seeing their onset. The Tech Chiefs have too much power over transfers and hires and their criteria is not challenged by the BUs Toros.

OP...I'd start looking for greener pastures... Exxon and Hess are sitting on 8 billion barrels of oil in Guyana... Total and Apache are chasing the prize too... They are finding the grease and rewarding staff for their efforts. All Eni can do is find hydrocarbons... The industry is still elephant hunting.

If Oxy is sitting idle and there is no significant ramp up in the Permian.... Lots of jobs on LinkedIn!

Oh yah, The oil projects, Onshore US, GOM and Algeria are paying down your massive debt. I'd be looking for more oil when the capital becomes available. Exxon, Total, Eni, BP,Shell and Hess aren't waiting for you.... Get complacent and get ready to be acquired.

Carbon capture is still in it's infancy, are you going to count on OxyChem to carry you?

World still need hydrocarbons to heat your home, drive you SUV, make plastics for your computer and phone, makeup for your spouse.,clothing, etc.. Emerging markets and third world aren't driving electric cars any time soon... Russia is off the table for now.... Very narrow minded thinking around here....

Paid 55 billion dollars to keep production flat and ramp up carbon capture and alternates? Didn’t need to buy Anadarko for that.

If you think the company is supposed to be increasing production you don’t know what is going on in the industry any longer. Keep it flat. Get your CCS and alt energies going.

OP here. So Parmian keeps drilling same ol', GoM keeping barrels flat since deep water capital investment is bare bones. Exploration projects seem random. Future carbon management profits appear to be pure hallucination.

So what are all these highly paid technical experts doing? Where IS the new greese?

What is company rewarding here if nothing but seniority? It clearly ain't rewarding success - there is not much of it. Perhaps cannot do much worse than a bit of voluntary severance?

Are you a SME? Promotions to senior technical levels require you to be at least 1 SME to move forward. As you move to the top it isn't uncommon to be at least an SME in two subjects. To become a Fellow (Distinguished) you need also to be recognized by the outside industry in your field and have multiple SME's.

Tons of years is what you will have at the end of your career. Hopefully you will spend time with others and let them learn from your experience's. Wells that cost multi millions to drill and developments into the billions require all of our talents to succeed.

All of "us" that you are pointing to were brought forward by our management to a promotion board that voted (unanimously) and their recommendation (based on the seniority) was sent to a SVP/EVP and/or President to approve. The only staff I ever saw promoted based of years bu-t time were the junior pay grades. Many of "us" either found the grease you are working on or were an integral part of its exploitation and development. Until I see new grease found (haven't seen any yet), I would temper my comments and try to LEARN something before they retire. We live in a free market economy that remunerates based on valuable experience and adding shareholder value.

@xcm+1mt2dqqT better make it a good offer or no one will be able to financial accept it. From previous experiences what was offered was very poor compared to other companies in the industry so it had to be denied.

All this yak yak and I haven't seen any new grease found post merger. All Vickie has to talk about is carbon capture projects on 60 minutes. Stock price is dropping and a potential recession is on the way. I'd be concerned about everyone's jobs, not just the senior technical staff.

Looks like another VSP is required to force a refresh on the employee pool.

OP, are you drunk?