Vicki hollub

Birthday: October 1959

Hometown: Birmingham, AL

Primary Residence: Galveston, TX

Residences: 

• Many, LA

• Saint Martinville, LA

• Houston, TX

Current role: CEO and President of Occidental Petroleum (1982-)

Net worth/salary: At least $20 million

Education: 

• Bachelor’s Degree in Mineral Engineering from the University of Alabama (1977-1981)

Board memberships, affiliations, and roles:

• Trustee at Khalifa University of Science, Technology and Research

• Director at the Southern California Leadership Council

• Director at the Texas Independent Producers & Royalty Owners Association (TIPRO)

• Member of the Business Council

• Governing Board Member of United Way of Kern County

• Director of the Permian Basin Petroleum Association

• Member of the American Petroleum Institute

• Director of Greater Houston Partnership (GHP)

• Member of the World Economic Forum

• Executive of the US-Columbia Business Council

• Advisory Board Member of the US-Qatar Business Council

• Member of the Oil & Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI)

• Member of the National Petroleum Council

Past roles: 

• Chairman of the Texas Economic Development Corporation (TxEDC) (2019-2024)

• Director of Lockheed Martin (2018-)

• President of Bravo Pipeline (2011-2012)

• Executive at Cities Service Company (1981-1982)

• Advisory Board Member of Secretary of Energy Advisory Board (GOVT)

Fun facts: 

• Vicki Hollub is the first woman to head a major US fossil fuel company

Oil Production

• Occidental is an oil producer in the US Permian Basin, which is “one of the most prolific oil basins in the world,” and has roughly 2.8M net acres of land across the Basin. According to the company’s 4th Quarter 2024 results, Oxy produced 1,463 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day (Mboed) internationally. As of December 31st, 2024, Oxy’s international proved reserves totalled 4.6 billion barrels of oil equivalent (BOE), which is .6 more BOE than the year before. 

Investing in Carbon Capture to Continue Selling Crude Oil

• Occidental Petroleum is investing in carbon capture technology to “cancel out” the amount of CO2 that is released when crude oil is burned. Oxy’s Stratos Plant, a direct air capture facility, will capture carbon from the air and store it underground. Through the use of the Plant, Vicki Hollub argues that the company can advertise their oil as “net-zero” and claims that “if it’s produced in the way that I’m talking about, there’s no reason not to produce oil and gas forever.” Despite international pleas to reduce the world’s reliance on fossil fuels, Hollub is proposing carbon capture as a way to continue oil production and has met several times with President Donald Trump to gain support for the concept.  

Anti-Carbon Tax

• In addition to opposing a shift from fossil fuels, Vicki Hollub also opposes carbon taxes. During a virtual meeting for the Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association, Hollub stated that “A carbon tax would be bad for a lot of the industry, a carbon tax would be bad for the consumers and especially for those consumers who are more disadvantaged from an economic standpoint.” The company, however, reportedly collects carbon tax credits through its “enhanced oil recovery operations.”

Advocating for Weakened Methane Regulation

• Occidental Petroleum has advocated to weaken Colorado and federal methane regulations. According to LobbyMap, Oxy is “negatively engaged on GHG emissions legislation and standards in the US, particularly relating to methane.” In 2024, Oxy advocated to weaken Colorado and federal methane regulation. The company also commented to the EPA that the Inflation Reduction Act’s methane fee should be weakened and proposed a "netting of emissions for facilities under ‘common ownership and control’.

Oxy’s History of Environmental Damage

• According to Violation Tracker, Occidental Petroleum has 206 records of environment-related offenses, with a penalty total of over $5B. 

Love Canal, New York

• Love Canal, New York is one of the most notorious examples of environmental degradation in the United States and is home to the country’s first Superfund site. Occidental Petroleum is closely tied to this case, due to being the parent company of Hooker Chemical Company, the company at fault for the chemical waste site. 

• In 1942, Hooker Chemical Company bought land as a site for chemical disposal in Love Canal, a neighborhood near Niagara Falls, New York. From 1947-1952, the company buried roughly 22,000 tons of hazardous waste under the land and eventually sold the land to the Niagara Falls School District in 1953 for $1. The sale included a deed releasing the company from any future legal responsibilities that may arise due to the chemicals. By the end of the 1970s, an Elementary School was built on the site, along with roughly 1,800 homes and 240 apartments in the surrounding blocks. In the years following the closure of the waste site, heavy rains surfaced the buried chemicals and began impacting the grounds of the school as well as water in the neighborhood. In April of 1978, following reports of increased miscarriages, birth defects, and other health concerns, the New York Department of Health ordered the school to close and for at-risk individuals to move. The EPA began their own investigation on the health of the area after community members protested the DOH’s order heavily, arguing that all residents were at risk. In October of 1980, President Carter ordered all families to permanently relocate.

• By October of 1979, over 800 lawsuits were filed against Hooker Chemical, which sought over $800B in total damages. On December 20th, 1979 the Department of Justice filed a $214M lawsuit against Occidental Chemical. In October of 1983, 1,328 former residents of Love Canal filed a lawsuit against Occidental Petroleum. The suit was settled out of court for roughly $20M, Oxy reimbursed the state of New York $98M for clean up costs in 1994, and agreed to pay $129M in damages to the federal government in 1995.

Maynas Carijano v. Occidental Petroleum 

• EarthRights International filed a lawsuit against Occidental Petroleum in 2007 due to Oxy’s alleged environmental contamination of the Peruvian indigenous Achuar communities over the span of thirty years. 

• EarthRights announced in 2015 that a mutual settlement (undisclosed amount) was agreed on by Oxy to fund health and educational projects in the impacted Achuar areas.

• Plaintiffs’ hired firms: EarthRights International and Schonbrun DeSimone Seplow Harris & Hoffman LLP.

Lisa T. LeBlanc et al. v. Texas Brine Co. | Texas Brine Co. v. Occidental Chemical Corp. 

• In 2014, a lawsuit was filed against Texas Brine Co. for causing a 422ft deep sinkhole following an excavation expedition in Bayou Corne, Louisiana in 2012. Occidental Petroleum owned the land and leased it to Texas Brine Co. The $48M settlement was approved by a Louisiana judge and charged both Texas Brine and Oxy. 

• In 2018, Texas Brine Company filed a lawsuit against Occidental Chemical Corp. for their role in the Bayou Corne Sinkhole, arguing that Oxy was more at fault for the sinkhole. Texas Brine was found to hold 35% of the fault and paid $20.6M for damages to the homes, while Oxy held 65% of the fault (details of how much Oxy owed is not publicly available as of August 2025) .

New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection v. Occidental Chemical Corp.

• In 2011, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection filed a lawsuit against Occidental Petroleum. Occidental Chemical, Oxy’s chemical subdivision, is the successor to Diamond Shamrock Chemical Co. which had allegedly dumped toxic waste into the Passaic River for decades. In 2014, Occidental was charged to pay $190M to resolve their contamination of the Passaic River. 

Multnomah County vs. Anadarko Petroleum

• Multnomah County, Oregon filed a lawsuit against Anadarko Petroleum, which was acquired by Occidental Petroleum in 2019, along with numerous fossil fuel companies including BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Koch Industries, API, Shell, Peabody Energy, and more. The County cited damages caused by the 2021 Pacific Northwest heat dome as being the main reason for action. The listed organizations and their “fossil fuel products” were found by the County to be a “substantial factor in causing and exacerbating the heat dome, which smothered the County’s residents for several days.” 69 residents of Multnomah County died due to the Heat Dome. The County is seeking $50M in damages, $1.5B in future damages, and roughly $50B for a fund to “weatherproof” the city. 

• Ryan Meyers, Senior VP at API, said in a statement that “this ongoing, coordinated campaign to wage meritless lawsuits against our industry is nothing more than a distraction from important issues and an enormous waste of taxpayer resources.” Occidental is a member of API and Vicki Hollub serves on the board

Wealth

• According to the company’s 4th Quarter 2024 results, Occidental Petroleum earned $1.2B (pre-tax) and Vicki Hollub has profited greatly off her company’s crimes. 

• According to WealthX, Vicki Hollub’s net worth is at least $20 million. Hollub has several assets, including a 2022 LINCOLN AVIATOR Luxury SUV, estimated to cost $45,000, and her property in Galveston, TX which is estimated at $3,000,000.

Honors

• Hollub has received multiple honors over the years, in July of 2025, Hollub was named the first female winner of the Dewhurst Award, which will be presented in 2026 during the WPC Energy Congress. In 2016, Hollub was inducted into the University of Alabama’s class of Distinguished Engineering Fellows (WealthX). 

Vicki Hollub is directly tied to the fossil fuel industry as CEO and President of Occidental Petroleum. Occidental Petroleum is required to publish annual emissions reports, which it refers to as its “Climate Reports.” However, InfluenceMap has reviewed Oxy’s climate disclosure efforts and has given the company a low score. 

Occidental Petroleum’s Climate Disclosure Scorecard

• Accuracy of Climate Policy Engagement Disclosure: Partial

• Accuracy of Direct Climate Policy Engagement Disclosure: Partial

• Accuracy of Indirect Climate Policy Engagement Disclosure: No

Oxy’s Climate Policy Engagement Scorecard

• Performance band: D

• Organization score: 52%

• Relationship score: 34%

• Engagement intensity: 28%

• Many environmental activists have protested against both Vicki Hollub and Occidental’s crimes against the Earth. The majority of environmental activism against Occidental has been due to their involvement in Love Canal and in Peru.    

• The most recent protests have been from Hollub’s speech at NYT’s Climate Forward event in September of 2024. During the event, activists from Climate Defiance protested Hollub’s speech during the 2024 Climate Week in NYC. The protesters shouted “You are not welcome here!” and Tricky Vicky, you can’t hide, we charge you with ecocide!”

• “I care about our planet… and I care about the people that are impacted by climate change.” In response to a question on when we should stop using fossil fuels, Hollub said “the day that should happen is the day when we run out of oil and gas.” - Vicki Hollub, NYT, 2024

• Hollub spoke on the role of direct capture technology at an oil and gas conference: “We believe that direct capture technology is going to be the technology that helps to preserve our industry over time. This gives our industry a license to continue to operate for the 60, 70, 80 years that I think it’s going to be very much needed.” -Vicki Hollub, 2023

• “In mitigating climate change, there is also the opportunity to continue to produce oil for our energy security. So, we’re trying to work that strategy and I think it is going to work well. The biggest challenge is harder to address than even the innovation around technology is just getting people to trust our industry again and to understand what the data really says.” - Vicki Hollub, 2023

Ties to Trump

• In regards to Donald Trump’s reelection, Vicki Hollub said that it is “going to be very positive for our industry, especially for our direct air capture. The reality is, that I believe he understands better than anybody our need for energy independence here in the United States. He understands the industry.” - Vicki Hollub, November 2024. 

Trump’s Campaign Events

• Vicki Hollub attended Trump’s Mar-a-Lago fundraiser in April of 2024, where he asked over 20 oil executives to donate $1B to his presidential re-election campaign. 

• Following Trump’s Mar-a-Lago fundraiser, Hollub co-hosted an invitation-only event alongside Harold Hamm and Kelcy Warren to request support from fossil fuel executives to fund Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. 

2024 Political Donations

• $41,300 to the Republican National Committee on 7/26/2024

• $5,000 to Save America PAC on 7/26/2024

• $3,300 to Donald Trump on 7/26/2024

• $15,000 to Christi Craddick

  • ⅓ members of the Railroad Commission of Texas 

2023 Political Donations

• $3,300 to Ted Cruz on 10/19/2023

• $3,400 to CMR PAC, associated with Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R) on 6/16/2023

• $3,300 to Cathy McMorris Rodgers on 6/16/2023

  • Rodgers 2024 LCV score: 0%

  • 2025 LCV score: 5%

• $3,400 to Majority Committee PAC (R) on 4/11/2023

• Kevin McCarthy (R)

  • $3,300 on 4/11/2023

  • $1,700 on 4/11/2023

  • $1,600 on 4/11/2023

  • LCV lifetime score: 4%

Other Large Donations (>$5,000)

• $25,000 to Ed Gillespie Campaign Committee (R) on 3/29/2017

• $12,300 to National Republican Congressional Committee (R) on 10/9/2018

• $10,000 to Christi Craddick (R) on 9/27/2018

• $10,000 to Stan Gerdes (R) on 2/12/2022

• $5,000 to Ryan Sitton (R) on 4/4/2018

• $5,000 to Great America Committee (R) on 10/9/2018

• $5,000 to Walter W Christian (R) on 11/29/2018

PR firms 

Occidental Petroleum has an internal Government Relations Group it uses for its international and domestic communication efforts. 

Lobbying 

Occidental 2025 Lobbying Expenditures

• Total (as of 9/10/2025): $4,840,000

• Hired firms:

  • Holland & Knight: $210,000

    • Notable Lobbyist: Richard M Gold

      • Former Special Assistant to the Administrator for the EPA (1993-1994)

  • Miller Strategies: $210,000

    • Notable Lobbyist: Jeff L Miller

      • Lobbied for Energy Transfer LP, Sentinel Midstream, and Valero Energy

      • Former Vice Chair of the Presidential Inaugural Committee 2017 (2016-2017, Donald Trump)

  • Navigators Global: $140,000

  • Burton Strategy Group: $90,000

  • GTB Partners: $40,000

Occidental 2024 Lobbying Expenditures

• Total: $9,635,000

• Hired firms:

  • Holland & Knight: $440,000

  • Miller Strategies: $320,000

  • Burton Strategy Group: $180,000

  • Navigators Global: $170,000

  • GTB Partners: $80,000

Think tanks / think tank networks / policy institutes / research centers 

Occidental Petroleum is a member of the Oil & Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI), a coalition founded by major fossil fuel companies to “promote a climate-friendly image”, according to DeSmog. Other members of the coalition include Exxon, Chevron, BP, and Saudi Aramco. The coalition has been criticized for greenwashing attempts prior to UN international climate talks. 

Trade groups / industry associations 

Trade Associations with Membership Dues > $50,000

• American Chemistry Council

  • Association’s alignment with the Paris Agreement: D (misaligned)

• American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers

  • Association’s alignment with the Paris Agreement: E- (misaligned)

• American Petroleum Institute

  • Association’s alignment with the Paris Agreement: E- (misaligned)

• Carbon Utilization Research Council

• Coloradans for Responsible Energy Development

• Colorado Oil & Gas Association

• Independent Petroleum Association of America

• Louisiana Chemical Association

• National Petroleum Council

• New Mexico Oil & Gas Association

• Permian Basin Petroleum Association

• Texas Oil & Gas Association

  • Association’s alignment with the Paris Agreement: F (misaligned)

• US Chamber of Commerce

  • Association’s alignment with the Paris Agreement: E- (misaligned)

• Western Energy Alliance

Other Connections to Trade Associations

• Director at the Texas Independent Producers & Royalty Owners Association (TIPRO)

• Director of Greater Houston Partnership (GHP) (trade group)

• Executive of the US-Columbia Business Council

• Advisory Board Member of the US-Qatar Business Council

• Oxy is a Member at the Western States Petroleum Association

Higher education related institutions

• Vicki Hollub has been a Trustee at Khalifa University of Science and Technology in Abu Dhabi since 2018. In 2017, the Petroleum Institute, an “educational and research center for the oil and gas industry”, merged with Khalifa University. The Petroleum Institute is financed by major fossil fuel companies, including BP which provides an Inaugural BP Innovation Scholarship to students.

Astroturf organizations

• Occidental Petroleum is a Member of the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA), which is the oldest petroleum trade association in the country. Other members of the group include major fossil fuel companies like Chevron, BP, ConocoPhillips, Exxon, and Shell. Although not an astroturf organization itself, the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) has reported that WSPA has “many-well documented astroturf groups.” One such group includes the California Drivers Alliance, which claimed to represent the voices of consumers in California, but openly opposed Senate Bill 350 which advocated for a 50% decrease in petroleum use in the state and an increase in renewable energy. A former contributor for UCS claimed that the campaign against SB-350 was “one of the most extreme examples of fossil fuel-intestrest misinformation I’ve ever seen.”