Maintaining trust is more important than ever in today's global business environment. Wherever Oxy operates, we strive to conduct our business in a manner reflecting Oxy's commitment to high ethical standards, institutional integrity and sound corporate governance.
Oxy has numerous policies and systems in place to help ensure that our business practices are consistently effective, responsive and highly principled. Among these is the Code of Business Conduct, which was adopted by the Board of Directors in 1997 and applies without exception to employees and directors of Occidental Petroleum Corporation, as well as the entities it controls. Other governance initiatives approved by the Board include confidential voting; the requirement that at least two-thirds of the directors be independent; and the establishment of a lead independent director. In addition, Oxy's corporate governance policies are published in our annual Proxy Statement and posted on this web site.
Our governance efforts consistently receive high marks from respected independent organizations. For example, since 2004, Oxy has earned global ratings of at least 9.5 out of a maximum score of 10 from the corporate governance ratings agency GovernanceMetrics International (GMI). We have consistently been among the highest rated of the more-than 140 companies in GMI's Oil and Gas Producers sector.
Our commitment to corporate governance is one of Oxy's most important attributes and directly contributes to the enhancement of stockholder value. We take seriously our collective responsibility to ensure that Oxy maintains the confidence of its many stakeholders around the world.
Dr. Ray R. Irani
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer