Speaking to his political rivals in Tennessee in 1836, former Rep. Davy Crockett famously told them: “You may all go to hell, and I will go to Texas.”
Chevron CEO Mike Wirth did not exactly say that out loud to California Gov. Gavin Newsom and other state officials there this week, but he did approve the move of his office and the rest of the company’s headquarters from its longtime location in San Ramon to a new location in Houston, Texas. And no one could blame Wirth if he might have had Crockett’s blunt words at top of mind given the consistent efforts by the state’s Democrats to force California’s formerly powerful oil-and-gas industry out of its borders.
Chevron’s history in California traces back to 1879 and the creation of the Pacific Oil and Gas Company. Pacific Oil and Gas was gobbled up in 1900 by the Standard Oil monopoly, which soon after was forced to bust itself apart following the anti-trust reforms enacted under President Theodore Roosevelt. Chevron grew out of Standard Oil of California, one of the so-called “7 Sisters” spin-off companies created in 1911.
Since those early years, Chevron has steadily grown, both through the drill bit and via mergers with fellow oil giants like Gulf Oil Company, Texaco, Unocal, Noble Energy, and with last October’s $53 billion acquisition of Houston-based Hess Corp. (RELATED: DAVID BLACKMON: Continuing EV Bloodbath Leaves Harris With A Lot To Answer For)
In its release, the company says the goal of the move is to “enable better collaboration and engagement with executives, employees, and business partners.” That is a testament to the fact that Houston has long been considered the capital of the U.S. domestic oil-and-gas industry, with many international players also maintaining a robust presence in the city for similar reasons. Chevron doesn’t say it in the release, but there is no doubt going to Texas also makes more sense from a tax and regulatory standpoint.
Even as its presence in California as a driller, producer, refiner, and retailer of oil and its related products has withered in recent decades, the Permian Basin of West Texas and Southeastern New Mexico has evolved into the centerpiece of Chevron’s domestic onshore operations. Houston is also much closer in proximity to the company’s big operations in the Gulf of Mexico and even to the Bakken Shale assets in North Dakota that it is acquiring in its deal with Hess Corp.
And then there is the much friendlier tax and regulatory environment in Texas. Wirth recently said in an interview: “We believe California has a number of policies that raise costs, that hurt consumers, that discourage investment and ultimately we think that’s not good for the economy in California and for consumers.” That’s a polite way of putting it, to say the least. (RELATED: DAVID BLACKMON: Gavin Newsom’s Newest Whopper: Mandating Electric Trains That Don’t Even Exist)
The reality is that California’s politicians have enacted a withering flood of laws, regulations and mandates over the past 30 years designed to force oil and gas companies from their midst; the only wonder here is that Chevron managed to hold out for so long before finally acceding to their wishes.
There is much to love about California and its people. It is a beautiful part of the world and I have never had anything other than positive interactions with the people there during the many times I have visited the state.
But there is a real reason why so many thousands of California residents and businesses have picked up and fled the state for Texas in this century. You don’t have to take my word for it – just ask Elon Musk.
Welcome to Texas, Mike Wirth and Chevron. The Texas state motto is “the friendship state,” and you and your fellow employees are about to find out why.
David Blackmon is an energy writer and consultant based in Texas. He spent 40 years in the oil and gas business, where he specialized in public policy and communications.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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