Chevron manager explains move of company headquarters from California to Texas: “difficult place for business”

Chevron’s announcement The announcement last week of the move of the company’s headquarters from California to Texas was partly due to the increasing difficulty of doing business in California, a Chevron executive said Thursday.

Andy Walz, Chevron’s president of Americas products, told reporters that the headquarters move comes after the company gradually relocated a number of employees from its San Ramon headquarters to the new headquarters in Texas in recent years as it became untenable to keep them in the Golden State.

“We did that because California is a difficult place to do business,” he said. “It’s difficult to recruit people. It’s difficult to move people — a lot of our people are moving up in the company, they’re getting experience in different regions, different locations, and we have a lot of people who don’t want to move to California. That makes it difficult.”

“We have long planned to move the company’s employee base to Houston. This is another step in that journey,” Walz said. “We are doing this because it will improve Chevron’s performance. Today, our leadership teams are spread across two different states, we are not together as often, so this is more efficient and effective.”

CHEVRON MOVES ITS HEADQUARTERS FROM CALIFORNIA TO TEXAS

Chevron is moving its headquarters from California to Texas. – A Chevron gas station in Rodeo, California, on June 19, 2024. (Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)

“California is a difficult place to have a large employee base. It’s tough. The cost of living is high. And we couldn’t get employees to move there who didn’t live there, and that’s not sustainable for us, to be honest,” he explained.

Chevron plans to move all corporate functions to Houston over the next five years to relocate its headquarters. Chairman and CEO Mike Wirth and his deputy Mark Nelson Moving to Houston before the end of the year in order to be closer to other top politicians.

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Chevron plans to maintain a strong presence in California, including refineries, retail network and other infrastructure, even after the company moves its headquarters. (Photo: iStock)

Walz emphasized that the company will continue to play a significant Presence in California even after the headquarters move is completed in the next five years.

“Chevron has a long history in California, we have a proud history. And we will stay there, we are not leaving – we have two large refinerieswe have a large retail network, we have infrastructure everywhere and we still have an upstream business in the San Joaquin Valley. So we’re going to continue to have a lot of employees there, they’re going to stay there and support that business,” Walz said.

He added that the move has been emotional for some employees and that the company will offer relocation packages and accommodate employees’ personal circumstances. However, employees in support roles supporting Chevron’s global operations will be located in Houston after the transition is complete.

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Chevron is moving its headquarters from San Ramon, California, to Houston, Texas. (Photo: iStock)

Walz explained that the move was not made for political reasons, California’s strict regulations about companies in the oil and gas business and said: “This is not politically motivated, we are trying to achieve better business results.”

However, he noted that Texas has welcomed the company’s move and that locating headquarters in a state that plays a leading role in the U.S. energy industry brings benefits from a corporate perspective while also offering employees the opportunity for a lower cost of living.

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“I’m telling you, we’re welcome in Texas. Our industry is welcome,” Walz explained. “Many of our competitors, many of our suppliers and many of our business customers are here. You can just walk across the street and talk to someone you do business with. The politics are open to energy companies. And quite frankly, the cost of living is lower, and that works well here.”