Occidental PetroleumOXY

About Occidental Petroleum

Occidental Petroleum is an integrated energy company whose core business is the exploration, development, and production of crude oil, natural gas liquids, and natural gas, sold primarily into North American wholesale markets. The company reports through three segments: Oil and Gas, which drills and produces hydrocarbons from onshore U.S. basins (most prominently the Permian), the Rockies, the Gulf of Mexico, and international positions; Chemical, operating as OxyChem to manufacture chlorine, caustic soda, and vinyl chloride monomer sold to industrial customers; and Midstream and Marketing, which gathers, processes, transports, and markets oil, gas, NGLs, CO2, and power. The upstream segment typically drives the bulk of consolidated profit, with OxyChem providing a meaningful, less volatile counterweight.

Investors track Occidental's exposure to global oil and gas prices, since upstream cash flow moves with benchmark crude and Henry Hub. Concentration in the Permian Basin is central: well productivity, breakeven costs, and takeaway capacity in West Texas and New Mexico shape returns. Balance-sheet trajectory following the Anadarko acquisition remains a durable question, as does the pace of debt reduction and preferred-share redemption tied to Berkshire Hathaway's warrants and preferred position. Governance features include a large activist and strategic shareholder base. Other watch items are regulatory exposure on federal lands and emissions, the capital-allocation split between reinvestment, buybacks, and dividends, and the scaling economics of the company's low-carbon ventures unit, including direct air capture.

Occidental was founded in 1920 in California and was transformed beginning in 1957 under Armand Hammer, who directed acquisitions and international expansion, notably in Libya, that turned the firm into a global independent. Later decades brought consolidation around North American upstream and specialty chemicals, the 2000 acquisition of Altura Energy's Permian assets, and the 2014 spin-off of California Resources Corporation, which separated the legacy California business. The defining recent event was the 2019 acquisition of Anadarko Petroleum, financed with Berkshire Hathaway preferred stock and warrants, which made Occidental the largest producer in the Permian. In 2023 and 2024 the company agreed to acquire CrownRock, adding further Permian scale, and continued building its Oxy Low Carbon Ventures platform.

Mechanically, Occidental sells crude oil, condensate, NGLs, and natural gas to refiners, marketers, utilities, and industrial buyers, often through short-dated commercial arrangements benchmarked to indexes such as WTI, Brent, Mont Belvieu, and Henry Hub, with hedging used selectively. OxyChem sells commodity and intermediate chemicals to construction, water-treatment, pulp and paper, and plastics customers under a mix of contract and spot pricing. Competitive position rests on low-cost Permian acreage and scale, integrated midstream infrastructure, technical expertise in enhanced oil recovery using CO2, and the chemicals franchise's cost position. Revenue is generated predominantly in the United States, with additional production and sales from operations in the Middle East, principally Oman and the United Arab Emirates, and Algeria.

Company profile by LineVest editorial. Journalism, not investment advice.