Occidental Petroleum returns to Houston as CEO Vicki Hollub prepares to retire

Occidental Petroleum flew from Boston Logan International Airport to its Houston base on May 13, arriving just after 11:43 p.m. local time aboard its Gulfstream G280, tail N280XY. The 3-hour-47-minute trip came at the end of a busy week of shuttling across the company's Texas and New Mexico operations, with the aircraft making multiple hops between Midland, Carlsbad, and Houston in the preceding days.

The same week, Occidental Petroleum announced that CEO Vicki Hollub would retire effective June 1, 2026, with Chief Operating Officer Richard Jackson succeeding her, per a company press release filed with the SEC on May 1. Hollub, who became the first woman to lead a major U.S. oil producer when she took the helm in 2016, will remain on the board. The Boston stop may have been personal or related to investor meetings; the company reported first-quarter earnings on May 6 that beat guidance in key segments, as covered by Yahoo Finance.

With Berkshire Hathaway holding roughly 28% of Occidental Petroleum, the leadership transition is a closely watched event in the energy sector. The G280's pattern of flights between Houston, the Permian Basin, and the Northeast suggests a mix of operational oversight and board-level engagements in the weeks before Hollub's departure.