Occidental Petroleum

Occidental Petroleum Coal Conversion Process. Garrett R D Co. (now the Occidental Research Co.) developed the Oxy Coal Conversion process based on mathematical simulation for heating coal particles in the pyrolysis unit. It was estimated that coal particles of 100-mm diameter could be heated throughout their volumes to decomposition temperature (450—540°C) within 0.1 s. A large pilot faciUty was constmcted at LaVeme, California, in 1971. This unit was reported to operate successfully at feed rates up to 136 kg/h (3.2 t/d). 

U.S. producers of benzene from petroleum and their approximate production capacities are shown in Table 5. These figures are inexact because the size of the market and instabiUty of benzene prices causes frequent changes in capacity. Dow Chemical, with total armual benzene capacity of 8.3 x 10 t (250 million gallons) is the largest producer in the United States. Other companies with total domestic capacity of over 3.3 x 10 t (100 million gallons) per year are Amoco Corp., Lyondell, British Petroleum America, Chevron, Exxon Chemical, Occidental Petroleum, Shell Oil, and Mobil. These companies account for approximately 60% of total U.S. benzene capacity (65). 

The first systematic study of the reaction of chlorine with toluene was carried out in 1866 by Bedstein and Geitner. During the next 40 years, many studies were performed to isolate and identify the various chlorination products (1). During the early 1930s, Hooker Electrochemical Co. (Hooker Chemicals Plastics Corp.) and the Heyden Chemical Corp. (Tenneco) began the manufacture of chlorotoluenes. Hooker Electrochemical Co. was later acquired by Occidental Petroleum Corp. and became the Occidental Chemical Corp. In the mid-1970s, Heyden exited chlorotoluenes production Occidental thus is the sole U.S. producer of chlorotoluenes. 

Parent Company OxyChem, Subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum (US)... 

Occidental Chemical Corporation, See OxyChem, subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum Corp. (US), 241 Occidental Petroleum Corporation, 241 Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), 286 Ocean Chemicals Group, 212... 

Hexachloroethane is not currently produced for commercial distribution in the United States. It is a by-product in the industrial chlorination of saturated and unsaturated C2 hydrocarbons by several U.S. companies, including Dow Chemical, PPG Industries, and Occidental Petroleum Corporation. The product may be used captively in-house or recycled in feedstock to produce tetrachloroethylene or carbon tetrachloride. Estimates of current production volumes were not located (Gordon et al. 1991 Santodonato et al. 1985 TRI93 1995). 

In 1995 the Clinton Administration proposed placing the federally-owned Elk Hills Naval Petroleum Reserve on the market as part of its efforts to reduce the size of government and return inherently non-fed-eral functions to the private sector. In 1996, the Congress passed and the President signed the Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1996 containing authorization to proceed with the sale. In 1998 the Department of Energy sold Elk Hills to Occidental Petroleum for 3.65 Billion. 

The manufacturers and sites of major chloroform production facilities identified for 1993 (SRI 1993) include the following Dow Chemical U.S.A., Freeport, Texas, and Plaquemine, Louisiana Occidental Petroleum Corp., Belle, West Virginia and Vulcan Materials Co., Geismar, Louisiana, and Wichita, Kansas. Estimated annual production capacity (SRI 1993) from these facilities as of January 1, 1993,... 

The zeolites designated ZBS-14 and ZBS-15 are clinos from two separate deposits owned by an Occidental Petroleum subsidiary, Occidental Minerals, Inc. H-ZBS-15 is a decationized version of its parent. Ash Meadows is an ARCO owned deposit and represents a completely ion exchanged clino sample. 

Oxymar Corpus Christi, Tex. 635 joint venture between Occidental Petroleum Corp. and Marubeni Corp. (Japan)... 

At the same time, oil companies were integrating downstream petrochemicals and polymers. Such was the case of Occidental Petroleum, which through its chemical subsidiary Hooker (later Oxychem) bought up... 

Likewise, it is because Du Pont, having spent 7.4 billion to acquire Conoco, sought to reduce its debts by selling part of Conoco s chemicals and also because Monsanto, ICI, and PPG were withdrawing from petrochemicals, that firms like Sterling Chemicals, Vista Chemical, and Cain Chemical have emerged since 1984. Cain Chemicals was itself to be taken over by Oxychem (Occidental Petroleum)... 

The litigation over residues left in the ground by Occidental Petroleum s affiliate Hooker, in Love Canal, in the state of New York, led to the evacuation of all the area s residents, beginning in 1978. But no clear explanation has yet been given of the ailments some of the inhabitants have been complaining about. 

---