Chevron will move headquarters to Texas in fresh blow to California

SAN RAMON — Chevron will move its headquarters from the East Bay to Texas, a relocation of a high-profile and legendary company that deals a fresh blow to California’s wobbly prestige.

The energy behemoth, which first moved its home base to the Bay Area in 1879, has decided to establish its head offices in Houston, Texas as part of the company’s exit from its current headquarters in San Ramon.

The Bay Area’s primary business organization, the Bay Area Council, harshly criticized California political leaders for creating a sour business climate in the nation’s largest state.

“Chasing jobs and employers out of California is no way to run the economy,” said Jim Wunderman, the Bayu Area Council’s president.

Besides Chevron, high-profile firms such as Oracle, Palantir, HPE, and Tesla had previously decamped from California to other locales such as Texas.

“It’s an embarrassment for California that we’ve lost so many global companies because of misguided policies that make it incredibly difficult to do business here,” Wunderman said.

This news organization requested a comment from Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office regarding the Chevron situation.

Chevron said it currently has 2,000 workers in San Ramon and 7,000 in Houston. For a decade or more, Chevron has increased its presence in Texas and decreased its footprint in the Bay Area, including San Ramon.

The company’s chief executive officer, Mike Wirth; and its vice chairman, Mark Nelson, will move to Houston before the end of 2024 to better collaborate with senior leaders who already operate out of Texas.

With the departure of Chevron from San Ramon, the company’s primary remaining Bay Area presence will be its 123-year-old refinery in western Richmond.

It’s possible the exit of the administrative offices from San Ramon’s Bishop Ranch business park could trigger job cuts at some point.

Any staffing reductions arising from the company’s departure might not happen immediately, however.

“There will be minimal immediate relocation impacts to other employees currently based in San Ramon,” Chevron stated in a prepared release.

Chevron intends to maintain a San Ramon presence to manage the California operations that will remain after the headquarters vanishes.

Besides the Richmond refining complex, Chevron also operates a vast refinery in the Los Angeles-area city of El Segundo as well as a network of more than 1,800 retail stations in California.

“California’s elected leaders need to take stock of the decisions they’re making that effect millions of families and workers, impact the state budget and have grave consequences for the future economic health of this state,” Wunderman said.