Vicki Hollub, CEO of Houston oil giant Occidental Petroleum, plans to retire and is making succession plans, Reuters reported Thursday.
Hollub was the first woman to lead a major American oil company when she took the role in 2016. She is among the 100 most powerful women in the world, according to Forbes, which last year named her one of two Houstonians on the list. The other was Beyoncé Knowles-Carter.
Hollub has led one of Houston’s largest oil companies for more than a decade, making a name for herself as she steered the company in ways that set it apart from male-run peers.
Hollub plans to make a formal announcement about her exit later this year, according to Reuters, which cited anonymous sources in a Thursday report. The Houston Chronicle has not been able to independently verify the information. Company representatives were not immediately available for comment.
She led Oxy’s $38 billion acquisition of Anadarko Petroleum in 2019. Oxy won the right to acquire Anadarko by outbidding the much larger Chevron. Anadarko originally agreed to be bought by Chevron, but backed out when Oxy sweetened its offer. Chevron received a $1 billion termination fee.
Oxy closed a chapter earlier this year when it sold its petrochemicals arm in a nearly $10 billion deal to Berkshire Hathaway, the holding company of investment billionaire Warren Buffett. The deal was Oxy’s latest effort to pay debts from the Anadarko megamerger — a deal boosted with $10 billion from Berkshire Hathaway.