By Angela Chen
Occidental Petroleum Corp. narrowed its loss in the first
quarter, while production continued to increase despite slumping
gas prices.
Earnings were in line with expectations, though revenue came in
below.
The results come a day after Houston-based Occidental named
company insider Vicki Hollub as its next chief executive and raised
its quarterly dividend.
The company said Ms. Hollub will succeed Stephen Chazen as CEO
after a "thorough transition period." She became president of the
oil and gas operations last year and will continue in that role in
the interim. She was also promoted to senior executive vice
president of the company.
The company previously pegged its 2015 capital spending budget
at $5.8 billion, down by a third from 2014 levels, joining the
growing list of oil-and-gas companies to curb investment plans amid
a recent drop in crude prices.
Commodity prices remained low in the first quarter, as the
average marker prices for WTI declined to $48.63 a barrel from
$98.68 a barrel a year earlier. For Brent, prices fell to $55.17 a
barrel from $107.90 a barrel in the prior-year period.
However, production has continued to increase. In the latest
quarter, production grew 13% to 645,000 BOE a day, led by the
Permain Resources business, where production grew 46%. The company
raised its production guidance by 20,000 to a range of between
60,000 and 80,000 BOE a day.
Overall, Occidental reported a loss of $218 million, or 28 cents
a share, compared with a loss of $1.4 billion, or $1.75 a share, a
year earlier.
Excluding asset-impairment charges and other items, per-share
earnings were four cents, down from with $1.38 a year earlier.
Segment net sales fell 38% to $3.09 billion.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected per-share profit of
four cents and revenue of $3.3 billion.
Shares, inactive premarket, have been down about 3% this year
through Tuesday's close.
Write to Angela Chen at angela.chen@dowjones.com
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