Occidental Petroleum added to its board of directors Thursday with the appointment of a former chief executive of Schlumberger as Oxy aims to instill more confidence with shareholders after risking its future to buy Anadarko Petroleum for $38 billion last year.
Andrew Gould, who previously headed the world’s largest oilfield services firm until 2011, will join the board of Houston-based Oxy in March at a time when Oxy is looking to cut costs, reduce its debt and sell some assets after making the biggest energy acquisition of the past few years to secure its position as the largest producer in the booming Permian Basin.
“Andrew brings a valuable perspective to the Board through his extensive experience as a chief executive in the oil and gas industry,” said Oxy Chairman Gene Batchelder, Chairman of the Board.
Gould said he has long admired Oxy, including the company’s leading role in injecting carbon dioxide into more mature wells to produce additional oil and gas volumes, a technique called enhanced oil recovery.
“I am honored to join the board during such an exciting time for the company as it leverages its operational excellence to extract more value from a world-class portfolio of assets,” Gould said.
Earlier this week, Oxy agreed to sell the old Anadarko campus in The Woodlands and the old ConocoPhillips headquarters, which Oxy had previously bought, for a combined $565 million to the Howard Hughes Corp.
As for Gould’s background, he led Schlumberger as the chairman and CEO from 2003 to 2011. He then chaired the United Kingdom’s BG Group until 2016 when it was bought by Royal Dutch Shell. The Anadarko sale was the biggest energy deal in the world since the BG deal.
Gould is currently a board member with the state-owned energy giant Saudi Aramco.
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