By Kyra Buckley STAFF WRITER
About 200 Chevron employees will move to Houston as the oil major shifts its global headquarters to a smaller office in California, a company spokesperson said Thursday.
In June, Chevron said it was selling its headquarters building in San Ramon and was searching for a smaller space to house the headquarters in the San Francisco Bay area. The oil giant offered to pay moving costs for some employees to relocate to Houston, where Chevron already has about 8,000 employees and contractors.
The oil major sold the 92-acre global headquarters in San Ramon to Sunset Development on Wednesday. The Wall Street Journal first reported the sale.
Chevron also leased 400,000 square feet of office space from Sunset at a nearby property, which will serve as the oil giant’s new headquarters, according to Sunset. The development company said it’s less than one-third the size of the property Chevron just sold and can accommodate about 2,000 employees.
“Moving our headquarters to a new, modern leased space nearby provides the opportunity to create an improved employee experience in a more contemporary environment,” said Mary Boroughs, president of Chevron Environment Management and Real Estate Company, in a statement. The downsized Chevron headquarters in California is expected to open next year.
Chevron is just one of the many California-headquartered companies that have expanded in Texas, though the oil company is unique in keeping its main offices in the Bay Area. HPE, for example, brought its headquarters to the Houston area, and Tesla relocated to Austin.
Meanwhile, Chevron’s rival Exxon Mobil said in January it would move its headquarters from Irving to Houston.
San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Ronald Li contributed to this report.