In a surprise move, Occidental Petroleum will re-locate to the city of Calgary in Alberta, Canada. CEO Vicki Hollob advised employees this morning via email of the decision. Hollob could not be reached for comment about the announcement but Mary Allison, head of investor relations provided some of the details. “The decision to move to Calgary was a very difficult one” Allison said. “Calgary is home to more than 2,000 energy companies” Allison explained. “The city and country are very oil friendly. We held a silent auction for many of our employees to self-terminate, but we didn’t have enough employees participate.”
Earlier this week, an email was sent to employees asking them to put a price in their premature retirement. Only 4% of employees suggested terms that were friendly to the company.
“The move will help some of our employees make a decision on whether to retire” Allison said. “Many of our Houston employees will hesitate to move to a cold climate.” The mayor of Calgary was involved in the process. “He told us that the accounting laws in Canada would give us a bit more freedom to interpret earnings for our shareholders. He described to our management team that accounting rules in Canada are more like suggestions than actual rules.”
Apparently, the management team liked what they heard.
This story is developing.
