Occidental Petroleum Corporation announced on May 4, 2026, that Vicki Hollub will retire from her role as President and Chief Executive Officer, effective June 1, 2026. The company’s Board of Directors has appointed Richard Jackson, currently serving as Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, to succeed her. Jackson will also join the Board of Directors upon assuming the CEO role, while Hollub will remain a director through the end of the year to facilitate a smooth leadership transition.
Hollub’s retirement concludes a 40-year career at Occidental, where she became the first woman to lead a major American oil company upon her appointment as CEO in 2016. Her decade-long tenure was characterized by aggressive portfolio expansion and a strategic shift toward carbon management. Most notably, she orchestrated the $38 billion acquisition of Anadarko Petroleum in 2019 and the $12 billion purchase of CrownRock in 2024. Under her leadership, the company also launched 1PointFive, a subsidiary dedicated to commercializing Direct Air Capture technology, and recently completed the $9.7 billion divestiture of its chemicals business, OxyChem, in January 2026.
Richard Jackson, the incoming CEO, joined Occidental in 2003 and has held numerous leadership positions across the company’s global operations. Before being named COO in October 2025, Jackson served as President of U.S. Onshore Resources and Carbon Management, where he managed the integration of Anadarko’s assets and the development of the Stratos carbon capture facility in West Texas. A petroleum engineering graduate from Texas A&M University, Jackson’s background is rooted in operational execution, well performance, and cost efficiency across the Permian Delaware Basin and international territories.
In an official statement, Board Chairman Jack Moore noted that the succession was the result of a rigorous, multi-year planning process. Moore credited Hollub with transforming Occidental into a more resilient and technically advanced enterprise. Hollub stated that the company’s current portfolio is the strongest in its history, making it the appropriate time for a leadership change. Jackson expressed his commitment to delivering value from the company’s high-quality resource base and focusing on organic improvement and execution.
The leadership transition occurs as Occidental emphasizes capital discipline and debt reduction. The company reported that its total global production averaged 1,481 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day in the fourth quarter of 2025. As of March 2026, Occidental had reduced its principal debt to approximately $13.8 billion. For the 2026 fiscal year, the company has set a capital expenditure budget between $5.5 billion and $5.9 billion, which includes a planned $400 million reduction in U.S. onshore spending compared to 2025 levels.