Chevron sells California HQ as Texas pivot continues - WSJ
Quantum Commodity Intelligence - Chevron has sold its long-standing headquarters in California and plans to move into a nearby leased space about one-third of the size as it continues to relocate employees to Texas, according to an exclusive report carried by the Wall Street Journal.
The second-largest US oil firm completed the sale Wednesday of its Chevron Park campus in San Ramon, California, the company's global headquarters for two decades, to Sunset Development Co.
Sunset announced that Chevron had signed a lease for nearly 400,000 square feet of space in a nearby office building located in Sunset's Bishop Ranch mixed-use project in San Ramon. Chevron's office space there could house about 2,000 employees after interior construction finishes in late 2023.
The financial terms of the sale and the lease agreement were not disclosed.
A Chevron spokesman told the WSJ that the current real estate market allowed the company to downsize its office space to the size its employee base there requires.
Chevron's presence in California has been declining for years, particularly following a reorganization that began in 2019.
Texas
Some of Chevron's leadership have long wanted to move the company's headquarters to Texas, but it has held off largely because of its long history in California and its assets there, including its Richmond refinery.
"Chevron will remain headquartered in California," spokesman Braden Reddall said, citing the company's long history, operations and partnerships in the state.
However, the sale of Chevron's global headquarters cements its shift to house the bulk of its US workforce in Houston, where the headcount has grown to about 6,000, about three times the size of its headcount in San Ramon.
Chevron had said earlier this year that it would offer to cover costs for some employees to relocate to Houston. Reddall said about 200 employees elected to move to Houston since Chevron made that offer earlier in the summer.
The report noted that Houston had become the capital of the US oil-and-natural-gas industry over the past several decades, with Texas leaders, including Gov. Greg Abbott touting lower taxes and lighter regulation.
Rival Exxon Mobil Corp. is moving its headquarters from Irving, Texas, to the Houston area next year.
