US oil giant abandons California after 150 years over ‘harsh’ green policies

Chevron is latest business to join exodus to Texas after complaining that regulation deterred investment

One of America’s biggest oil companies is to abandon its headquarters in California amid a backlash against “harsh” green policies. 
Chevron on Friday said it would relocate to Houston, Texas, breaking a historic association with the Golden State that stretches back to the 1870s. 
Chevron’s decision follows repeated warnings from bosses that stringent environmental regulations and other moves by the Californian government had made doing business there too difficult. 
It is the latest oil company to walk away from the state, while other employers such as Elon Musk’s SpaceX have also relocated following rows with state authorities about new legislation.
In January, Chevron wrote up to $4bn (£3.1bn) off the value of its assets there and complained the “increasingly harsh regulatory environment” was deterring investment.
Andy Walz, a top Chevron executive, warned at the time: “These arbitrary attacks on a disfavoured industry … signal to every industry, entrepreneur, manufacturer and employer that California is closed for business.”
Mike Wirth, Chevron’s chief executive, said the company would complete a relocation of its headquarters, currently registered in San Ramon, by the end of this year.
Elon Musk has relocated the headquarters of his companies Tesla, SpaceX and X, formerly Twitter, out of the state, following rows with authorities over his Tesla bonus package and “woke” laws that mean schools do not have to tell parents if their child identifies as transgender.
His businesses are among hundreds to have moved to Texas, a major centre for oil production that has sought to market itself as business-friendly – including HP, Toyota Motor North America, Kubota Tractor Corporation, Charles Schwab Corporation and CBRE Group.
Against that backdrop, Texas has become one of the world’s largest economies – ahead of some G7 nations. 
Despite California’s long and profitable association with the oil industry, it has gradually adopted tougher regulations on gasoline, oil permits and air pollution since the 1970s following various environmental disasters such as the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill.
In another outspoken attack more recently, Gavin Newsom, the Democratic state Governor, took Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell, BP and ConocoPhillips to court last year for “lying to consumers for more than 50 years” about climate change.
The clash has prompted an exodus, with ExxonMobil and Shell exiting onshore production in the state last year, while Chevron has already slashed new investment there.
Since 2018, Chevron’s production of crude oil in California has plunged from 161m barrels per year to 94m.