Maintaining trust is more important than ever in today’s global business environment. Wherever Oxy operates, we strive to conduct our business in a manner reflecting Oxy’s commitment to high ethical standards, institutional integrity and sound corporate governance.
Oxy has numerous policies and systems in place to help ensure that our business practices are consistently effective, responsive and highly principled. Among these is the Code of Business Conduct, which was adopted by the Board of Directors in 1997 and applies without exception to employees and directors of Occidental Petroleum Corporation, as well as the entities it controls.
The Board of Directors actively follows governance issues and strives to maintain an ongoing, constructive dialogue with stockholders, with the goal of achieving continuous improvement in all aspects of our corporate governance. As a result, the Board has implemented a number of changes that are widely considered to be hallmarks of responsible governance.
For example, following a series of meetings with stockholders over the past two years, Oxy became one of the first Fortune 500 companies to voluntarily agree to submit to stockholders a “Say on Pay” advisory vote on executive compensation. The first such advisory vote was in 2010. The Board of Directors also has approved initiatives to institute confidential voting; require that at least two-thirds of the directors be independent; and establish a lead independent director. In 2009, Oxy amended its Restricted Certificate of Incorporation to permit stockholders to call special meetings. In 2008, Oxy adopted a policy that executive compensation consultants must be independent. Oxy’s complete corporate governance policies are published in our annual Proxy Statement and posted on this web site.
Our commitment to corporate governance is one of Oxy’s most important attributes and directly contributes to the enhancement of stockholder value. We take seriously our collective responsibility to ensure that Oxy continues to merit the confidence of its many stakeholders around the world.
Dr. Ray R. Irani
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer