Occidental Petroleum Corporation (OXY) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning, and welcome to the virtual webcast of the 2021 Annual Meeting of Shareholders of the Occidental Petroleum Corporation. We do not expect any technical difficulties today. However, in the event we lose audio or webcast connection, please wait 10 minutes for resolution. I would now like to introduce Occidental's Vice President, Deputy General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, Nicole Clark, to begin the meeting.

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining Occidental's 2021 Annual Meeting. During the webcast today, we may make certain projections or other forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities law. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in these statements. Please refer to Occidental's 2020 annual report on Form 10-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and our subsequent SEC filings for additional information regarding risks and uncertainties that could cause such differences. With that, I'll turn the call over to Occidental's President and Chief Executive Officer, Vicki Hollub, to share a few opening remarks before we call the business meeting to order.

Thank you, Nicole, and good morning, everyone. Thank you all for joining us. Health and safety are of paramount importance at Occidental. And in light of the risks posed by COVID-19 pandemic to our shareholders and employees, we're holding a virtual annual meeting again this year. We hope that you find this format to be efficient, and we appreciate the opportunity to engage with our shareholders. Looking back at 2020, we and the stakeholders and communities that we serve faced significant challenges. With the oversight of our Board, the swift action taken by members of senior management and the dedication of our employees, we overcame the adversity presented and entered 2021 with an improved financial position. Our employees also continue to meet and exceed expectations and safely, which has helped Occidental navigate the COVID-19 pandemic and severe weather events, such as Winter Storm Uri. As we adapted to the macroeconomic challenges of the past year, we remained focused on building a sustainable business. We recognize that climate change must be addressed. And accordingly, we were the first U.S. oil and gas company to announce a target to reach net 0 emissions associated with our operations before 2040 and an ambition to achieve net 0 emissions associated with the use of our products by 2050. Occidental's 40-plus years of experience in enhanced oil recovery uniquely positions us to achieve our net 0 ambitions and to provide solutions for others looking to do the same, through large-scale carbon capture, utilization and sequestration. Our Oxy Low Carbon Ventures team leverages this experience to enhance existing carbon capture methods, develop new technologies and form partnerships to advance our low carbon strategy. We recently announced that we are beginning the front-end engineering and design on our first direct air capture facility, which, when fully built, will capture 1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide a year from the atmosphere and permanently sequester it underground. Earlier this year, we also sold our first cargo of net 0 oil. Making net 0 oil available to be refined into net 0 products can be a significant near-term solution for hard-to-decarbonize industries such as aviation and maritime transportation. The events of the past year also emphasized the importance of our commitment to providing a safe and inclusive workplace for all of our employees. Occidental unequivocally condemns hate and violence of all forms, including violence against women and minorities and racial bias against any community. To further our commitment to a culture of diversity, inclusion and belonging, we created a Diversity & Inclusion Advisory Board to centralize and oversee Occidental's diversion, our diversity and inclusion efforts and formed a Diversity & Inclusion Ambassador Committee to deploy diversity and inclusion initiatives throughout our company and to advocate for a collaborative and diverse vision. And I want to add, that I'm proud of our employees as they are actively engaged in these important initiatives. I'll now turn it over to Steve Chazen, Chairman of the Board, to call the meeting to order.

Thank you, Vicki, and good morning to everyone. On behalf of the Board, I'm pleased to welcome you to our 2021 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. The meeting is officially called to order. At this time, I'd like to introduce the other Director nominees who're on the call with us today. In addition to Vicki, Andrew Gould, Carlos Gutierrez, Gary Hu, Bill Klesse, Andrew Langham, Jack Moore, Maggie Paláu-Hernández, Dick Poladian and Bob Shearer. Our independent auditor, KPMG, is represented here today by partners, Jeff Urban, and John Abundis. Also joining us is Natalie Hairston from the American Election Services, who will serve as the inspector of election for this meeting. As the Secretary of the meeting, Ms. Clark will now provide brief remarks on certain procedural matters related to today's meeting and review the matters to be voted on.

Thank you, Steve. The format of today's meeting is outlined on the agenda, which is shown in the center of the meeting portal, and the rules of conduct may be accessed by clicking on the materials button at the bottom right corner of the meeting portal. These procedures are designed to ensure we have a fair and orderly meeting. Please note that this meeting is being recorded. However, no one attending via the webcast or by telephone is permitted to use any audio recording device. The polls were opened at 8:00 a.m. Central Time. If you are a shareholder and you have not already voted or you wish to change your vote, you should have logged into the meeting using your control number, which will allow you to vote online during the meeting. Your control number may be found on your proxy card, voting instruction card or electronic notice to vote. You may vote by clicking on the voting button at the bottom right corner of the meeting portal. If you have already submitted your proxy card or voted by Internet or telephone, your shares have been voted accordingly. You do not need to vote today unless you are voting for the first time or you wish to change your vote. The Board of Directors fixed March 12, 2021, as the record date for the determination of shareholders entitled to receive notice of and to vote at this meeting. We began delivering the notice of Internet availability of proxy materials, the proxy statement and our annual report on Form 10-K on March 26 to holders of record as of the record date. We have received an affidavit of mailing, establishing that notice of this meeting was duly given. A copy of the materials described above and the affidavit of mailing will be incorporated into the minutes of this meeting. The oath of Office of Natalie Hairston, our independent third-party inspector of election, will also be included in the minutes. The proxy statement, our 2020 annual report and a list of shareholders entitled to vote at this meeting are available to shareholders electronically during the meeting. We have a preliminary report from the inspector of election that there're shareholders representing more than 80% of the outstanding shares of common stock of Occidental entitled to vote at this meeting present in person or by proxy. I, therefore, declare that a quorum is present, and this meeting is duly convened for the purpose of transacting such business as may properly become before the meeting. Under the company's bylaws, the only matters properly before our shareholders today are those set forth in the notice of annual meeting and proxy statement. The bylaws also provide the procedures a shareholder must follow to nominate directors. This period in which shareholders can nominate directors at this meeting has passed. I will now review the matters to be voted on at today's meeting. The first proposal is the election of 11 directors to serve for a 1-year term ending at the 2022 annual meeting. But in any event, until his or her respective successor is elected and qualified, unless ended earlier due to his or her death, resignation, disqualification or removal from office. The Board has nominated the following persons to serve as directors of the company. Steve Chazen, Andrew Gould, Carlos Gutierrez, Vicki Hollub, Gary Hu, Bill Klesse, Andrew Langham, Jack Moore, Maggie Paláu-Hernández, Dick Poladian and Bob Shearer. The biography of each director nominee is included in the proxy statement. The second proposal is the advisory vote to approve named executive officer compensation as described in the proxy statement. The third proposal is the ratification of the selection of KPMG as Occidental's independent auditor for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2021.

Thanks, Nicole. For the reasons discussed in the proxy statement, the Board recommends a vote for each of the Director nominees and for proposals 2 and 3. We will now address any shareholder questions relating to the proposals.

We've received 1 question relating to the proposals. Why is the executive compensation vote nonbinding?

This question relates to Proposal 2. Occidental has a say-on-pay policy, which is adopted in 2009 prior to the SEC releasing rules in 2011, implementing certain provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act. The rules require public companies to obtain nonbinding shareholder advisory votes regarding approval of executive compensation known as say on pay, and how frequently shareholders will hold say-on-pay votes known as say on frequency. At our 2011 and 2017 annual meetings, shareholders were asked to cast a vote on the frequency of future advisory votes concerning the approval of the compensation of Occidental's named executive officers. Each time, shareholders overwhelmingly supported a frequency of approving executive compensation each year. We believe that these votes, though nonbinding, are very important because they have fostered greater dialogue regarding executive compensation internally and with our investors and other stakeholders. Brittany, do we have any other questions regarding the proposals?

No, we do not.

Thanks, Brittany. That concludes the question-and-answer session regarding the proposals.

Thank you, Nicole. I now declare the polls closed. Ms. Clark, can you provide a preliminary report on the voting results.

Thanks, Steve. We will reflect that the polls closed at 8:12 a.m. Central Time. The inspector of election reports on a preliminary basis, the shareholders have approved the election of each of the 11 director nominees named in Proposal 1, and shareholders have approved Proposal 2 and ratified Proposal 3. The final voting results will become part of the record of the meeting and will be reported in a Form 8-K to be filed in connection with the matters voted upon at this meeting.

Thank you, Nicole. Since there is no further formal business, the official business portion of the meeting is now adjourned. With that, I'll turn the call back to Nicole.

Thanks, Steve. Before turning to more shareholder questions, I'd like to introduce Mark Van Baal from Follow This, who we engaged with on a proposal they submitted on behalf of 1 of our shareholders Benta B.V., regarding adoption of medium-term Scope 3 emissions targets. After a series of constructive conversations underpinned by our shared vision of a low-carbon world, we committed to announce a medium-term net emission reduction target as part of our pathway to a 2050 net 0 ambition before our 2022 annual meeting. To allow ample time for further Q&A, we ask you, Mr. van Baal, to please limit your comments to a period of 2 minutes or less. Mr. van Baal, are you on the line?

Unfortunately, we've lost the line of Mark van Baal at this time. I do apologize.

I'm still around.

Great. Mark? Yes. Mark, can you go ahead with your comments, please?

Yes, please. Thank you very much for this opportunity to address you, Mrs. Hollub, other shareholders, esteemed members of the Board. The mission of Follow This is that shareholders support all measures to drive the energy transition. We need big oil. Big oil can make or break the Paris Accord to limit global warming. Occidental stands apart from their U.S. counterparts. Our company is only the only U.S. oil major to take responsibility for the emissions of its products, the so-called Scope 3 emissions. And also the only U.S. oil major with commitments to be net 0 by 2050. We believe that long-term goals will not be met without interim targets. Therefore, we filed climate resolutions for -- at 4 U.S. oil majors requesting emission reductions, short, medium and long term. After a number of meaningful conversations with a large team of Occidental, this led to the commitment from Occidental to set the medium-term targets for their product emissions, with their Scope 3 emissions. This satisfied the essential goal of our climate resolutions, which we then withdrew. So we look forward to next weeks when shareholder resolutions -- shareholders will vote for emission reductions at your peers, Conoco, P66 and Chevron. About these intermediate targets, scientific consensus indicates that to reach the goal of the Paris Climate Agreement, emissions must fall by 25% to 45% within this decade. Occidental's mastery of enhanced oil recovery will allow them to take full advantage of carbon capture and storage. However, exclusive reliance on CCS will put Occidental in a precarious position. We, therefore, encourage the company not to place all eggs in 1 basket and we support Occidental to explore other emission reduction strategies, such as a shift in investments towards renewables. We look forward to continuing our engagement with Occidental in the coming years. It is our hope that shareholders will be able to express their support for Paris' consistent emission reduction targets in a resolution mutually endorsed by both Follow This and Occidental in 2022. Fellow shareholders, let me conclude. This would not only save the world from devastated climate change but also save your company from disruption by new technologies. Shareholders, Board members and the whole team of Occidental, I'd like to conclude with the final words of our climate resolutions. You have our support. Thank you for your attention.

Thanks, Mark. We appreciate you joining us today and look forward to engaging with you and your team in the future. I'll hand the call over to Vicki for additional Q&A.

Thank you, Nicole, and thank you, Mark. As Nicole mentioned, we've appreciated our engagements with you and other stakeholders on the global challenge of climate change, and we look forward to publicly announcing a medium-term net emissions retarget -- reduction target as part of our pathway to 2050 net 0 ambition before next year's annual meeting. I will add, though, that we completely agree with you that the development of renewables is critically important for the world to achieve our target of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees. The -- part of the reason that we've focused on carbon capture and sequestration is it's a gap that's not being filled. And it's a gap that if it doesn't get filled, we have no way to get there. But recognizing your recognition that the renewables are a key part of it, we do use renewables in our operations. We've installed a 16-megawatt solar facility in the Permian Basin. So while -- to power some of our oil and gas operations. And I think this was the first solar facility designed and installed to power exclusively oil and gas operations. We think we should continue to consider using renewables to power other parts of our operations too. And we're committed to -- with an investment in net power, which is a form of technology that generates electricity of actually no emission electricity. We'll be using that in the future as well. So Mark, we want to continue the dialogue with you because we think dialogue with you and others that have the same commitment that we do will enhance our ability to think outside the box and to further expand our thoughts about how we can accomplish this. So thank you again.

I will now address shareholder questions that relate to matters other than the proposals. Brittany, do we have any additional questions?

Yes. We received several questions regarding when the Board plans to increase the dividend. Can you speak to that?

Yes. We announced yesterday that the Board declared a regularly quarterly dividend of $0.01 per share on common stock payable on July 15, 2021, to stockholders of record as of June 10. We understand that many shareholders would like us to increase the dividend in the near future. While we are encouraged by the improving macro environment, we'll continue to improve our balance sheet until we reach the point where our financial position will support a more meaningful return of capital to our common shareholders throughout the commodity cycle.

The next question is, how will you prioritize the allocation of excess cash flow among debt reduction, share repurchases, dividends and capital expenditures for production growth?

Our focus is to maintain our production and reduce debt. In 2020, we refinanced approximately $7 billion of near-term maturities and reduced our debt by approximately $2.4 billion. As discussed earlier, after strengthening our balance sheet, we plan to prioritize returning additional capital to shareholders in the form of a sustainable dividend as well as potentially allocating some capital to increasing production. Over the longer term, we intend to allocate excess cash to repurchasing shares and retiring the preferred equity. Our cash flow priorities are structured with the aim of positioning our company for future success.

We received several questions regarding the change in Presidential administration, the continuing political and social attention on climate change and how both of those will affect our strategy and investments. Can you address that?

Certainly. First and foremost, I'm proud of the unwavering commitment of our employees to safety and the environment. This commitment is reflected in the way in which we have transparently engaged with regulators at all levels of government. We expect to continue to work cohesively with the regulators and the Biden administration. We also welcome the opportunity to be collaborative to achieve our shared objectives, which has been key to reaching reasonable outcomes for Oxy and for the communities in which we operate. Our management and the Board understand that climate issues, like other business concerns, are dynamic and challenging. We're proud to be a part of the solution with our low-carbon strategy. As discussed earlier, Oxy Low Carbon Ventures, our business unit dedicated to advancing cutting edge, low carbon technology solutions is working to create a marketplace for CO2 and low-carbon fuels. OLCV has announced several key partnerships with the potential to grow our business while reducing emissions. In addition to carbon capture, utilization and storage technologies, OLCV is exploring new initiatives with the goal of making our business more sustainable. As the solar plant that I mentioned earlier is our Goldsmith Solar plant, it began operating in 2019 and immediately reduced our indirect Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions for that enhanced oil recovery field.

We received several questions regarding Board diversity and the current composition of the Board. Can you discuss those topics?

Yes. Our Board is committed to achieving a diverse membership, including in terms of gender, race and ethnicity as well as skill set and experience to meet Occidental's current and future needs and strategic priorities. We anticipate that enhancing diversity will be a key priority in future director additions.

Our last question is, how is the company actively trying to incorporate diversity and inclusion initiatives?

We continually strive to create a more collaborative and inclusive workplace. And as I discussed at the start of the meeting, we created a Diversity & Inclusion Advisory Board to centralize and oversee Occidental's diversity and inclusion strategy. We also formed a D&I Ambassador Committee to lead company-wide diversity and inclusion initiatives, and to serve as a resource and champion for employees and support the Advisory Board. Furthermore, we've implemented more employee training and awareness programs, including sessions on inclusive leadership and unconscious bias and hope to introduce more programs that are responsive to employee feedback. That concludes the question-and-answer session relating to nonproposal matters. On behalf of the Board and senior management, thank you for your continued support and ownership of Occidental.

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes the 2021 Annual Meeting of Shareholders of Occidental Petroleum Corporation. You may now disconnect.