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Occidental Petroleum

Is this your company?

If you want to work in a truely collaborative and suportive environment to produce results, don't work for Oxy. - Reservoir Engineer Occidental Petroleum Employee Review

2.0
Sep 21, 2013
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

9/80 work schedule. Projects are interesting and provide good technical work experience.

Cons

Unfriendly and highly competitive environment. People work in silos. Management is known to have favorites with perceptions of employees that can make or break their careers, in some cases, without even knowing or working with the employee. There is no time for training or mentoring. Heavy work load for reservoir engineers. 9/80 work schedule is nice if you can actually take your Friday off. If you work at Oxy, plan on logging in at 7 am or earlier, not eating lunch or eating at your desk and working at least a 10 hour day which will not be good enough. Very poor environment for mid to late career professionals!

Explore other reviews about Occidental Petroleum

5.0
Jul 11, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Peak benefits, amazing coworkers, giant organization/market altering company to be apart of

Cons

Chances of promotion might come from retirements

5.0
Apr 16, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Compensation is solid for Houston energy: roughly $150K base plus ~$45K bonus/stock for DS-level roles, with a standout ~14% employer retirement contribution (7% 401k match + 7% company contribution). Benefits, PTO, and hybrid flexibility (M/F WFH, 9/80 schedule common) are consistently praised, and Texas has no state income tax. Overall comp & benefits rating is 4.2/5 company-wide on Glassdoor, and bonus upside scales with oil-cycle performance.

Cons

Base pay for ML/computational roles trails top-of-market (FAANG, quant, AI-first firms), and Houston DS employees specifically rated comp 1/5 on Glassdoor — suggesting pay compression or slow raises relative to market. Career progression is reportedly slow, with employees citing 12-year waits for promotion and salaries held toward the low end of the band. Bonus/LTI are tied to oil prices, so comp is cyclical, and recent layoffs tied to the OxyChem sale and debt-reduction push have made job security feel less certain than at integrated majors like XOM or CVX.

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