Occidental Petroleum names drilling veteran Richard Jackson as next CEO

Occidental Petroleum has turned to drilling veteran Richard Jackson to lead the company into its next phase, elevating a longtime operator who has spent more than two decades inside the business Hollub remade around debt reduction and domestic oil.

The transition, announced May 1, will take effect June 1, when Vicki Hollub retires after serving as chief executive since 2016 and on the board since 2015. Jackson, currently chief operating officer, will also join Occidental’s board. Hollub will remain on the board, a move the company said is meant to preserve continuity as Occidental manages succession at the top.

The choice points to both steadiness and a possible sharpening of focus. Jackson joined Occidental in 2003 through the company’s Middle East operations and later ran U.S. onshore oil and gas, low-carbon integrated technologies, the Permian Delaware Basin and enhanced oil recovery, along with investor relations and drilling in the Americas. That mix suggests he arrives with direct knowledge of Occidental’s core shale engine and its climate-linked ventures, including carbon capture and related technologies.

For investors, the handoff matters because Occidental is still working through the legacy of its 2019 Anadarko Petroleum acquisition, a debt-heavy deal that forced years of asset sales and balance-sheet repair. Occidental said the January 2 completion of the OxyChem sale cut debt by $5.8 billion since mid-December 2025 and left principal debt at $15.0 billion. In 2025, the company repaid about $4.0 billion of debt from divestitures and cash on hand, then another $5.4 billion after year-end from the OxyChem transaction, following $4.5 billion of debt repayment in 2024.

That repair work has been paired with a more aggressive production strategy. Occidental completed the CrownRock acquisition on August 1, 2024, adding high-margin output and low-breakeven inventory in the Permian Basin. The company also said its quarterly dividend was raised to $0.26 in February, and that per-share payout has doubled over the past four years, signaling management’s effort to balance growth, leverage and shareholder returns.

Chairman Jack Moore called Hollub’s leadership transformative and said Jackson was the right leader for the next phase. Hollub said the company has completed a decade-long transformation and now has the best portfolio and technical expertise in its history. Analysts and large shareholders will now watch for whether Jackson keeps that formula intact, especially as Middle East tensions support demand for North American crude and as Occidental decides how much emphasis to place on drilling versus low-carbon businesses in a changing energy market.