By Chelsea Stevenson Occidental Petroleum Corp.'s (OXY) second-quarter earnings dropped 27% as the exploration and production company saw sales and profits decline in its two main segments--oil and gas and chemical. Occidental's heavy investment in the U.S.--in California, Texas and the interior of the country--has boosted production in recent periods, leading to strong results in its chemicals business. For the period, Occidental reported a profit of $1.33 billion, or $1.64 a share, compared with $1.82 billion, or $2.23 a share, a year earlier. The company had 2.3 million fewer shares outstanding in the latest quarter. Revenue declined 6.5% to $5.77 billion. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters were expecting earnings of $1.60 a share on revenue of $5.85 billion. Revenue in the company's main oil and gas segment fell 9.2% as profit decreased 22%. Chemical sales fell 12% while profit was down 23%. Average daily oil and natural-gas production grew 7% from a year earlier to 766,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, marking the company's second consecutive quarter of record high production. Average prices decreased 3.6% for crude oil, while natural-gas liquids prices dropped 27% worldwide. Domestic-gas prices declined 51%. Shares closed at $83.52 Wednesday and were inactive in recent premarket trading. The stock has fallen 20% in the past 12 months. Write to Chelsea Stevenson at chelsea.stevenson@dowjones.com Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires
