Occidental Petroleum Loss Widens

Occidental Petroleum Corp. said its loss widened to $5.2 billion in the fourth quarter amid heavy write-downs and low energy prices.

Chief Executive Stephen I. Chazen highlighted reduced capital spending and costs and said Occidental would only invest in its "highest return" projects.

Houston-based Occidental, an oil and gas exploration and production company, has been hurt by the sustained tumble in energy prices. In the fourth quarter, Occidental said its realized crude oil price was $38.68 per barrel, down about 46% from a year prior.

Still, Occidental hasn't cut back production. In the latest quarter, production climbed 12.6% from a year earlier. Production was 671,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day, about flat compared with the previous quarter.

Occidental reported a loss of $5.18 billion, or $6.78 a share, compared with a loss of $3.41 billion, or $4.41 a share, a year prior.

The latest quarter's results included about $4.92 billion in asset impairment charges.

Core earnings were a loss of 17 cents a share, while analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had forecast a loss of 12 cents a share.

Total sales from its different segments fell 35% to $2.81 billion.

Write to Austen Hufford at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 04, 2016 08:25 ET (13:25 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.