Canadian Occidental Petroleum Ltd. said Thursday it was changing its name to Nexen Inc. in the wake of Occidental Petroleum Corp.'s sale earlier this year of its 29-per-cent stake in the company.
Canadian Occidental, an international oil producer widely known as CanOxy, said the new name was chosen after receiving input from staff, shareholders and consultants.
"Nexen, signifying a new energy, was the name we kept coming back to," CanOxy chief executive Vic Zaleschuk said in a statement.
The company, with a stock-market value of $5.2-billion, is one of Canada's biggest oil and gas producers. It has operations at home as well as in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, Yemen, Colombia and Australia.
Last spring, it joined with the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board, one of Canada's most powerful institutional investors, to buy back Los Angeles-based Occidental's long-held interest following several months of sometimes-tense negotiations.
"I am absolutely confident that our company's greatest days are ahead of us, and that as Nexen, we will enhance our position as the Canadian exploration and production company," Mr. Zaleschuk said.
Shareholders are slated to vote on the name change on Nov. 2. "At which point we'll probably change our stock symbol and probably change our listing in the United States to the New York Stock Exchange," CanOxy spokesman Kevin Finn said. It is currently listed on the American Stock Exchange.
CanOxy shares in Toronto were off 50 Canadian cents to $38 Thursday, down from their year high of $45.20.