Occidental Petroleum Corp. history, profile and corporate video
Occidental Petroleum Corp. is an international oil and gas exploration and production company. It operates through following business segments: Oil and Gas, Chemical and Midstream, Marketing and Other. The Oil and Gas segment develops and produces oil and condensate, natural gas liquids and natural gas. The Chemical segment manufactures and markets basic chemicals and vinyls. The Midstream, Marketingand Other segment gathers, treats, processes, transports, stores, purchases and markets oil, condensate, NGLs, natural gas, carbon dioxide and power. It also trades around its assets, including pipelines and storage capacity, and trades oil and gas, other commodities and commodity-related securities. The company was founded in 1920 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, CA.“
“Occidental Petroleum History
Occidental Petroleum Corporation is one of the largest U.S. oil and gas companies based on equity market capitalization. Occidental’s success is a direct outcome of the company’s leadership and ongoing commitment to enhance stockholder value.
Employing a disciplined financial strategy and focusing on high-potential oil and gas assets in our core geographic regions, Occidental has consistently achieved top-tier results, including:
- In 2013, Occidental achieved average worldwide oil and gas production of 763,000 barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) per day.
- At year-end 2013, Occidental had total proved reserves of 3.5 billion BOE – a new company record. Occidental replaced 169 percent of its oil and gas production in 2013*.
- Return on capital employed (ROCE)** was 12.2 percent in 2013.
- Occidental returned $1.6 billion to shareholders in 2013 in the form of dividends.
- Occidental’s market capitalization at year-end 2013 was $75.7 billion.
- Occidental has paid quarterly dividends to its stockholders continuously since 1975. Effective February 2014, the annual dividend was increased 12.5 percent to an annual rate of $2.88 per share.
Occidental is the largest onshore producer of oil and liquids combined in the 48 contiguous United States. It is the largest operator and largest producer of oil in the Permian Basin of West Texas and southeast New Mexico, and California’s largest natural gas producer and largest oil and gas producer on a gross-operated barrels of oil equivalent basis. Oxy was founded in California in 1920 and made its first major discovery in the Sacramento Valley in 1961. Through 2013, more than 60 percent of the company’s worldwide production comes from its U.S. operations.
Occidental has been an active investor in the Middle East region for more than 40 years. The region currently accounts for more than a third of Occidental’s worldwide production. The majority of our regional capital is deployed in our focus areas of Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates.
Occidental also has operations in Latin America, primarily in Colombia. More than 1.2 billion total barrels of oil have been produced at Colombia’s Caño Limón Field since it was discovered by Occidental in 1983.
Occidental Chemical Corporation (OxyChem) is a leading North American manufacturer of basic chemicals and vinyls used in products essential to public health and modern life. For every product it markets in the U.S., OxyChem’s market position is No. 1 or No. 2. OxyChem was established in 1987.
Over the years, a number of milestones have propelled Occidental’s growth. These include:
- 2014: Occidental announced it reached a definitive agreement to sell its Hugoton Field assets. The company also announced the Board of Directors’ authorization to separate Occidental’s California assets into an independent and separately traded company. Occidental expects to complete the separation by the end of 2014 or the early part of 2015.
- 2013: Occidental announced the initial phase of its strategic review including: pursuit of the sale of a minority interest in the Middle East/North Africa operations; strategic alternatives for select Midcontinent assets; and the sale of a portion of Occidental’s 35-percent investment in the General Partner of Plains All-American Pipeline, L.P. Occidental received approval from the Government of Qatar for the fifth phase of field development of the Idd El Shargi North Dome Field, which will focus on implementing and improving waterflooding practices in all oil-producing reservoirs. OxyChem announced the formation of a 50/50 joint venture, Ingleside Ethylene LLC, to build a 1.2-billion-pound per year capacity ethylene cracker at the OxyChem plant in Ingleside, Texas, along with pipelines and storage at Markham, Texas.
- 2012: Occidental’s cryogenic gas plant at Elk Hills came online in July, improving operational efficiency and production, and enhancing liquids yields. Occidental announced a joint venture with Magellan Midstream Partners, L.P., for the BridgeTex Pipeline, a new crude oil pipeline system that will extend from Colorado City, Texas, to the Houston Gulf Coast area. Occidental purchased from the Port of Corpus Christi the site of the former U.S. Naval Station Ingleside in Ingleside, Texas, expanding the company’s current operations in the area. OxyChem began construction on a membrane cell chlor-alkali plant in Tennessee. The plant was completed in 2014.
- 2011: Occidental acquired a 40-percent participating interest in the Al Hosn Gas Project. Occidental is working with Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) on this 30-year joint venture to develop one of the largest gas fields in the Middle East.
- 2010: Occidental announced the acquisition of assets in South Texas and North Dakota and the selling of its assets in Argentina. Eni, Occidental and Korea Gas signed a contract with Iraq’s state-owned South Oil Company and Missan Oil Company as State Partner, to redevelop the Zubair Field near Basra in southern Iraq.
- 2009: Occidental and Mubadala Development Company (Mubadala) with the National Oil and Gas Authority of Bahrain (NOGA) started operations for the further development of the Bahrain Field. Occidental also acquired the commodities investment company Phibro from Citigroup and OxyChem acquired Dow Chemical Company’s calcium chloride operations, the world’s largest.
- 2008: Occidental signed agreements for various projects in the Middle East region, including an agreement to develop gas fields and to explore for potential new discoveries in the Sultanate of Oman. In the U.S., Occidental purchased interests in the Permian and Piceance basins.
- 2007: The Dolphin Gas Project, one of the largest energy projects ever undertaken in the Middle East, became fully operational. It currently delivers natural gas to customers in the United Arab Emirates and Oman. Occidental has been a participant in the Dolphin Gas Project since 2002.
- 2006: Occidental acquired production assets from Vintage Petroleum in Argentina, Bolivia, California and the Middle East. OxyChem acquired chemical assets in the U.S. from Vulcan Materials Company.
- 2004: Occidental signed a new production-sharing contract for the Mukhaizna Field, one of the largest in Oman.
- 2000: The purchase of Altura Energy, Ltd., in the Permian Basin of West Texas and southeast New Mexico made Occidental the largest oil producer in Texas.
- 1998: Occidental became the largest natural gas producer in California with the purchase of the U.S. Department of Energy’s 78-percent interest in Elk Hills Naval Petroleum Reserve in Kern County.
Occidental has been publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange since 1964.
Occidental stock has split twice: a 2-for-1 stock split on July 20, 2006, and a 3-for-1 stock split on January 29, 1968. In February 2014, the Board of Directors approved Occidental’s thirteenth dividend increase since 2002.”
*Information from Forbes.com and Oxy.com
**Video published on YouTube by “Occidental“