CRC Stock: Insider Activity, Filings & Research
California Resources Corporation (CRC) — Drillr’s hub for CRC insider activity, SEC filings, earnings signals and AI research. Over the trailing 3 months, CRC insiders filed 0 open-market buys and 5 sales (SEC Form 4).
CRC insider trading activity (SEC Form 4)
| Date | Insider | Type | Shares | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 12, 2026 | Preston Michael L.officer: EVP, Chf Strategy Officer & GC | Sell | 26,409 | $59.82 |
| May 12, 2026 | Hayat Omarofficer: EVP & Chief Operating Officer | Grant | 173 | — |
| May 12, 2026 | Hayat Omarofficer: EVP & Chief Operating Officer | Tax | 51 | $58.92 |
| May 12, 2026 | Hayat Omarofficer: EVP & Chief Operating Officer | Tax | 94 | $58.92 |
| May 4, 2026 | Bremner Andrew B.director | Grant | 3,091 | — |
| May 4, 2026 | Veltmann Alejandradirector | Grant | 3,091 | — |
| May 4, 2026 | Roby William Bdirector | Grant | 3,091 | — |
| May 4, 2026 | McFarland Mark Allendirector | Grant | 3,091 | — |
| May 4, 2026 | CHAPMAN JAMES Ndirector | Grant | 3,091 | — |
| May 4, 2026 | Kendall Christian Sdirector | Grant | 3,091 | — |
| May 4, 2026 | CEPAK TIFFANY THOMdirector | Grant | 5,023 | — |
| Mar 16, 2026 | CANADA PENSION PLAN INVESTMENT BOARD10 percent owner | Sell | 3,500,000 | $61.10 |
| Mar 12, 2026 | Gould Christopher D.officer: EVP & Chief Sustainability Off | Sell | 24,347 | $62.21 |
| Mar 10, 2026 | Hayat Omarofficer: EVP & Chief Operating Officer | Sell | 23,000 | $65.87 |
| Mar 9, 2026 | McFarland Mark Allendirector | Sell | 16,372 | $64.83 |
Source: CRC SEC Form 4 filings, latest May 12, 2026. For informational purposes only — not investment advice.
California Resources Corporation company profile
Overview
California Resources Corporation (NYSE:CRC) is an independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company founded in 2014 and publicly traded since October 2020. The company operates exclusively in California, focusing on mature oil fields in the San Joaquin Basin and Los Angeles Basin. CRC has evolved from a traditional oil and gas producer into a diversified energy company that also generates electricity and develops carbon capture and storage projects. The company completed a transformative merger with Aera Energy in 2024, significantly expanding its asset base and production capacity.
Business
California Resources Corporation operates in the upstream oil and gas industry, which involves exploring for, drilling, and producing crude oil and natural gas from underground reservoirs. The company's core business centers around conventional oil and gas production from mature, low-decline fields primarily located in California's San Joaquin Basin and Los Angeles Basin. The company's operations can be divided into three main business segments: 1. Oil and Gas Production (Primary Revenue Driver - approximately 85-90% of revenues): CRC extracts crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids from approximately 1.9 million net mineral acres. The company's production is heavily weighted toward oil, which comprises nearly 80% of total production volumes. This oil-heavy production mix is advantageous given oil's higher value compared to natural gas. The company produces around 141,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, with oil production of approximately 113,000 barrels per day. 2. Power Generation (approximately 5-10% of revenues): CRC operates over 850 megawatts of power generation capacity across California through natural gas-fired power plants. The company sells electricity to local utilities and the grid, benefiting from California's resource adequacy contracts that pay for reliable baseload power capacity. This business segment is expected to generate around $150 million in annual revenue from resource adequacy payments. 3. Carbon Management (Emerging Business): Through its Carbon TerraVault subsidiary, CRC is developing carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects. This involves capturing carbon dioxide from industrial emitters and permanently storing it in underground geological formations. The company has received EPA permits for CCS projects and is targeting its first CO2 injection by late 2025, with plans to sequester millions of metric tons of CO2 annually.
Revenue model
California Resources Corporation generates revenue through multiple complementary business models that leverage its extensive California energy infrastructure: Product Sales Revenue: The primary revenue source comes from selling crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids to refineries, marketers, and other purchasers. CRC benefits from selling into the California market, where oil typically trades at a premium to benchmark prices due to limited local supply and refinery specifications. The company realizes approximately 99% of Brent crude prices for its oil production. Power Generation Revenue: The company operates natural gas power plants that generate electricity sold to California utilities. Revenue comes from both energy sales and capacity payments, with resource adequacy contracts providing stable, long-term income of approximately $150 million annually. This business model benefits from California's need for reliable baseload power. Service and Storage Fees (Emerging): The developing carbon management business will generate revenue by charging industrial customers fees for capturing and permanently storing their CO2 emissions. The company targets $50-$100 per metric ton of CO2 stored, representing a potentially significant new revenue stream. Several factors influence the company's profitability margins. Commodity price volatility significantly impacts margins, as oil and gas prices fluctuate based on global supply-demand dynamics. The company mitigates this through hedging programs that lock in floor prices for a significant portion of production. California's regulatory environment affects operational costs and permitting timelines, with stricter environmental regulations increasing compliance expenses but also creating barriers to entry for competitors. Infrastructure advantages provide margin benefits, as CRC's integrated operations allow it to move oil, gas, water, and power across its field network, optimizing costs and revenues. Operational synergies from the Aera merger are expected to reduce costs by $235 million annually through infrastructure consolidation and operational efficiencies.
Competitive moat
California Resources Corporation possesses a moderate but defensible moat built primarily around geographic concentration and regulatory barriers, though this moat faces long-term structural challenges. The company's strongest competitive advantage lies in its irreplaceable asset base in California, where new oil and gas development faces increasingly restrictive permitting and environmental regulations. CRC owns extensive acreage in proven, mature fields with existing infrastructure, making it extremely difficult for new entrants to establish competing operations. The company's integrated infrastructure network, including pipelines, power plants, and processing facilities, creates operational synergies that would be costly and time-consuming for competitors to replicate. Regulatory barriers provide additional protection, as California's stringent environmental requirements and lengthy permitting processes effectively limit new competition. However, these same regulations pose a double-edged challenge, as they also constrain CRC's own growth opportunities and increase operational costs. The company's emerging carbon management business could develop into a significant moat advantage. CRC's unique combination of CO2 storage capacity, existing industrial relationships, and proximity to major emission sources in California positions it favorably in the growing carbon capture market. The company has submitted permits for hundreds of millions of tons of potential CO2 storage capacity, which could become valuable strategic assets. However, the moat faces substantial long-term threats. California's commitment to carbon neutrality and renewable energy transition poses an existential challenge to traditional oil and gas operations. Electric vehicle adoption and renewable energy mandates will likely reduce long-term demand for CRC's core products. The company's heavy concentration in California, while providing near-term advantages, also creates geographic risk and exposure to increasingly hostile regulatory policies toward fossil fuel production. Competition primarily comes from other California-focused producers and potential disruption from renewable energy sources rather than new oil and gas entrants.
Risks & safety
Overall Assessment: CRC maintains a reasonable margin of safety with strong cash generation and moderate debt levels, though commodity price sensitivity creates earnings volatility. Financial Strength: - Cash and equivalents: $214 million as of Q1 2025 - Total liquidity: Over $1 billion including credit facilities - Debt-to-equity ratio: 0.31x (relatively conservative) - Leverage: Below 1x debt-to-EBITDA - Current ratio: 0.83x (slightly concerning but manageable given cash flow generation) Cash Flow and Solvency: - Strong free cash flow generation: $186 million in Q1 2025 - Operating cash flow: $186 million quarterly - No immediate solvency concerns given strong cash generation - Company actively reducing debt (redeemed $123 million in notes recently) Valuation Metrics: - P/E ratio: 8.7x (attractive for energy sector) - EV/EBITDA: 7.1x (reasonable for cyclical business) - Price-to-book: 1.13x (trading near book value) - Graham number suggests potential undervaluation Other Considerations: - Commodity price hedging provides downside protection (70% of production hedged) - Strong dividend coverage and share buyback program - California regulatory risks create uncertainty - Asset concentration in single state increases political/regulatory risk
Recent development
Over the past few years, California Resources Corporation has undergone significant strategic transformation, evolving from a traditional oil and gas producer into a diversified energy company with multiple growth vectors. The most significant development was the completion of the Aera Energy merger in 2024, which more than doubled CRC's production capacity and asset base. This transformative transaction expanded the company's operations across California's major oil-producing regions and is expected to generate $235 million in annual synergies through infrastructure consolidation, operational efficiencies, and cost reductions. The company has already achieved 70% of these targeted synergies within the first year. Carbon management has emerged as a major strategic priority, with CRC developing its Carbon TerraVault subsidiary into a leading carbon capture and storage platform. The company received California's first EPA Class VI permit for carbon sequestration and is breaking ground on its first CCS project at Elk Hills, targeting initial CO2 injection by late 2025. CRC has expanded its potential carbon storage capacity to over 400 million metric tons through multiple permit applications, positioning itself to capture significant value from California's carbon reduction mandates. The company has also pivoted toward power generation and data center opportunities, leveraging its existing natural gas power plants and exploring partnerships with AI and technology companies requiring reliable, low-carbon baseload power. CRC is investigating enhanced geothermal systems and battery storage solutions while positioning its power assets to serve the growing demand for data center electricity in California. Operational focus has shifted toward capital discipline and cash return, with the company maintaining a conservative one-rig drilling program while maximizing free cash flow generation. CRC has returned substantial capital to shareholders through dividends and share buybacks, including a 25% dividend increase and active share repurchase programs totaling over $1 billion in authorizations. The company has also adapted to California's challenging regulatory environment by diversifying its permitting strategies, exploring conditional use permits, and focusing development on wholly-owned fields where it has greater operational control.
CRC company profile · for informational purposes only — not investment advice.
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