Unexpectedly!

Or not: “Chevron Corp. will move up to 800 jobs — about a quarter of its current headquarters staff — from the Bay Area to Houston over the next two years but will remain based in San Ramon, the oil company told employees Thursday.”

As Rob Long adds:

Of course, now it’s 9,800 employees in Texas and 9,100 employees in California. But don’t read anything into that:

“It’s important to reiterate that we are a California-based company,” said Chevron spokesman Morgan Crinklaw. “We’ve been an important part of the state’s economy and growth for 130 years, and we remain committed to this state.”

Which is exactly the kind of thing professional spokespeople say right before they pull up stakes and head for the hills.

Heh.™