SAN RAMON — Chevron will move its headquarters from the East Bay to Texas, a relocation of a high-profile and legendary company that deals a fresh blow to California’s wobbly prestige.
The energy behemoth, which first moved its home base to the Bay Area in 1879, has decided to establish its head offices in Houston, Texas, as part of the company’s exit from its current headquarters in San Ramon.
The Bay Area’s primary business organization, the Bay Area Council, harshly criticized California political leaders for creating a sour business climate in the nation’s largest state.
“Chasing jobs and employers out of California is no way to run the economy,” said Jim Wunderman, the Bay Area Council’s president.
Besides Chevron, high-profile companies such as Oracle, Palantir, HPE, and Tesla had previously decamped from California to other locales such as Texas.
“It’s an embarrassment for California that we’ve lost so many global companies because of misguided policies that make it incredibly difficult to do business here,” Wunderman said.
Chevron currently has 2,000 workers in San Ramon and 7,000 in Houston. For a decade or more, Chevron has increased its presence in Texas and decreased its footprint in the Bay Area, including San Ramon.
“This announcement is the logical culmination of a long process that has repeatedly been foreshadowed by Chevron,” said Alex Stack, a spokesperson for Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office. “We’re proud of California’s place as the leading creator of clean energy jobs, a critical part of our diverse, innovative, and vibrant economy.”
CEO Mike Wirth and Vice Chairman Mark Nelson will move to Houston before the end of 2024 to better collaborate with senior leaders who already operate out of Texas.
With the departure of Chevron from San Ramon, the company’s primary remaining Bay Area presence will be its 123-year-old refinery in western Richmond.
It’s possible the exit of the administrative offices from San Ramon’s Bishop Ranch business park could trigger job cuts at some point.
Any staffing reductions arising from the company’s departure might not happen immediately, however.
“There will be minimal immediate relocation impacts to other employees currently based in San Ramon,” Chevron stated in a prepared release.
Chevron intends to maintain a San Ramon presence to manage the California operations that will remain after the headquarters vanishes.
Besides the Richmond refining complex, Chevron also operates a vast refinery in the Los Angeles-area city of El Segundo as well as a network of more than 1,800 retail stations in California.
“California’s elected leaders need to take stock of the decisions they’re making that effect millions of families and workers, impact the state budget and have grave consequences for the future economic health of this state,” Wunderman said.
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