Occidental Petroleum's shuttle aircraft returns to Houston from Midland as new CEO settles in

Occidental Petroleum's Embraer ERJ-175 (tail N170XY) was tracked departing Midland International Air and Space Port at 07:55 UTC on June 27, landing at Houston Bush Intercontinental about an hour later. The flight, a short hop from the Permian Basin to the company's headquarters, is a routine movement for the aircraft, which serves as an employee shuttle.

If Occidental Petroleum executives were aboard, the trip would come three weeks after Richard Jackson succeeded Vicki Hollub as CEO on June 1, per the company's Q1 2026 earnings call transcript [insidermonkey.com](https://www.insidermonkey.com/blog/occidental-petroleum-corporation-nyseoxy-q1-2026-earnings-call-transcript-1755921/). Jackson, previously COO, has deep operational experience, and a visit to the Permian — Occidental Petroleum's core producing region — would fit a new chief's priority of maintaining top-tier capital efficiency and cost savings.

The ERJ-175 has flown this corridor repeatedly over the past week, with multiple legs between Midland and Houston. The pattern suggests a steady rhythm of operational oversight rather than a one-off event, consistent with Occidental Petroleum's focus on Permian activity and debt reduction, which the company highlighted in its first-quarter results [tikr.com](https://www.tikr.com/blog/oxy-has-fallen-22-from-its-high-is-occidental-petroleum-actually-cheap-now).