Occidental Names New Finance Chief -- Update

By Kimberly Chin and Nina Trentmann 

Occidental Petroleum Corp. has hired a new finance chief, part of a wider management shake-up that comes amid renewed criticism of the company's $38 billion deal to buy rival Anadarko Petroleum Corp.

The Houston-based company said Friday it has promoted Robert Peterson as its next chief financial officer, succeeding Cedric Burgher.

Mr. Peterson has served as senior vice president of the Permian enhanced oil recovery techniques unit for Occidental Oil and Gas since September. Previously, he was the vice president of Permian strategy for Occidental Oil and Gas.

Mr. Burgher will move into a different role in the company, Occidental said. He has held the finance chief role since joining the company in May 2017.

The company this week filed a proxy in which it disclosed the ouster of Oscar Brown, a former Bank of America Corp. banker who served as a key lieutenant of Occidental Chief Executive Vicki Hollub and played a core role in orchestrating the Anadarko deal.

The proxy noted that Mr. Brown "was an employee of Occidental from 2016 to March 2020."

Occidental came under fire again from activist investor Carl Icahn -- a critic of the 2019 Anadarko deal -- last month as oil prices plummeted due to the coronavirus pandemic and a Saudi-Russian oil-price war. Occidental reached a deal with Mr. Icahn that resulted in him replacing several members of the company's board of directors.

The company also has slashed its dividend, cut planned capital spending for this year by nearly half and reduced salaries for executives and employees in response to the plunge in oil prices.

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Rebecca Elliott

contributed to this article.

Write to Kimberly Chin at [e-mail] and Nina Trentmann at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 03, 2020 20:15 ET (00:15 GMT)

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