Occidental 3Q Profit Beats Forecasts On Rising Oil Prices

Reuters

HOUSTON, Nov 1 (Reuters) - U.S. oil and natural gas producer Occidental Petroleum Corp posted a better-than-expected quarterly profit on Wednesday as rising commodity prices offset Hurricane Harvey's impact on operations.

The company posted third-quarter net income of $190 million, or 25 cents per share, compared to a loss of $241 million, or 32 cents per share, in the year-ago period.

Excluding one-time items, Oxy earned 18 cents per share. By that measure, analysts expected earnings of 11 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Harvey, which hit the U.S. Gulf Coast region in August, zapped quarterly profit by about $70 million.

Average production over the quarter fell about 1 percent to 600,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day from the same period a year ago, with Permian operations down about 1,000 boe/d due to Harvey.

"Even with the financial impacts from Hurricane Harvey, we showed significant progress across all our segments toward our pathway to break-even after dividend and production growth," Chief Executive Vicki Hollub said in a statement.

The company's chemical and pipeline operations, which are located on or near the Gulf Coast, were most affected by the storm. All of Oxy's chlorovinyl production was shuttered by the storm.

Oxy's Ingleside Energy Center oil export terminal, with a capacity to handle 300,000 barrels per day (bpd), was also shuttered temporarily by the storm, but is now operating at full capacity and loading export tankers.

Executives plan to hold a conference call with investors to discuss quarterly results on Thursday morning.

Shares in the Houston-based company were unchanged in after-hours trading, after closing the day at $65.46. The stock has lost about 8 percent of its value so far this year.

(Reporting by Ernest Scheyder; Editing by Bill Rigby and Rosalba O'Brien)



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