A Chevron executive has recently opened up about why the company decided to move its headquarters from California to Texas.
This shocking move comes after Chevron has called the Golden State home for 145 years. Now, however, an executive has shed some light on this decision, stating that California is a “tough place to do business.”
Chevron Moves From California to Texas
Last week, Chevron announced that it would fully relocate its corporate headquarters from San Ramon, California, to Texas.
After this announcement was made, Chevron stated that this decision had nothing to do with politics. Instead, it had to do with the fact that Chevron has increasingly been doing business in the Lone Star State.
California Is a Difficult State for Business
Now, Andy Walz, Chevron’s president of America’s products, opened up more about why the company decided to finally make this transition.
According to Walz, California has increasingly become a difficult state to do business in, thanks to its many strict policies and regulations.
Slowing Moving From California to Texas
Walz also echoed statements that other Chevron executives have made recently. According to these employees, the company has slowly been moving workers to Texas from San Ramon headquarters over the years.
Now, this ultimate move has come as a logical next step for the oil company.
A Tough Place
Walz explained why he viewed California as a tough place to do business, particularly when it comes to recruiting employees.
“We’ve been doing that because California is a tough place to do business,” Walz said. “It’s a tough place to recruit people. It’s a tough place to move employees – a lot of our employees move up through the company, they gain experience in different geographies, different locations and we have a lot of people who will not move to California. That makes it difficult.”
Keeping Work in One State
The executive further stated that keeping all workers in one state — rather than spread out across many states — would help with their efficiency.
Walz explained, “We’re doing that because it’s going to drive better performance for Chevron. Today, our leadership teams are spread across two different states, we’re not together as much, so there’s efficiencies, there’s effectiveness by doing that.”
California’s Cost of Living Is Too High
Walz also added that living in California is quite tough for many employees, thanks to the state’s high cost of living.
“California’s a tough place to have a big employee base. It’s tough. Cost of living is expensive. And we were not able to get employees that didn’t live there to move there and that’s not sustainable for us, to be honest,” he said.
Chevron Will Stay in California
While Chevron will be moving its corporate headquarters from the Golden State to Texas, Walz also made sure to explain that the oil company will still have a presence in California.
This substantial presence will be seen with the two big refineries the company has in the state, among other infrastructures.
Chevron’s History in the Golden State
Walz explained that the company is proud of its long history in California — and wants to remain a significant presence there.
“Chevron has a long history in California, we have a proud history. And we are going to stay there, we’re not going away – we have two big refineries, we have a large retail network, we have infrastructure all over the place and we still have an upstream business in the San Joaquin Valley. So we will still have a lot of employees there, they will remain there supporting that business,” Walz stated.
Was This Move Political?
Though Walz did state that California was incredibly tough to do business in, he also denied that this move was politically motivated. This echoes the statements other Chevron leaders made.
He added, “This isn’t politically motivated, we’re trying to drive better business outcomes.”
Chevron Is Welcome in Texas
However, even though he denied that strict regulations forced Chevron to move, Walz also admitted that the company is welcome in Texas.
“I will tell you, in Texas, we’re welcome. Our industry is welcome,” Walz said. “This is where a lot of our competitors are, a lot of our suppliers, a lot of the people we do business with are here. It’s easy to walk across the street and talk to somebody that you’re doing business with. The policies are welcoming of energy companies. And quite frankly, it’s lower cost of living, and it works well here.”
Companies Move From California to Texas
Chevron’s decision to move to Texas comes after many major businesses have made the same move in recent years.
Most notably, Elon Musk’s many companies, including Tesla and now X and SpaceX, have announced they will move from California to Texas.
