Occidental Petroleum exceeds profit expectations for the third quarter on higher production

Occidental Petroleum, a U.S. oil-and-gas firm, beat Wall Street expectations for the third quarter profit on Tuesday. However, overall earnings dropped 14% due to losses on asset sales and a decline in chemical results.

The third quarter results of oil companies were lower than the previous year due to lower prices for oil and gas. Occidental's quarter profit includes one-time losses on asset sales, and gains from share sales and derivatives.

Occidental reported that its operating profit for pumping oil and natural gas dropped 25% to $1.2 Billion due to losses on asset sales. It suffered a loss of $572 million on the sale. It took a $572 million loss on the sales.

Sold properties

In July, Permian and an unidentified purchaser paid $970 Million.

The proceeds from the sale helped to reduce the heavy debt burden of the

Purchase of $12 Billion

CrownRock, a closely-held shale gas and oil producer. At the end of the third quarter, long-term debt was $25.46billion. This figure has been reduced by $4 billion due to cash and asset sales.

Operating profit for the company from chemicals has dropped to $304 from $373 million. The company's midstream division benefited from derivatives, and it made $490 million from the sale of shares in Western Midstream Partners.

Occidental increased its oil production by 15.7%, to 1.4million barrels of oil per day. This was due to the CrownRock acquisition. The company says that the full-year production of expanded Permian properties will reach 661,000 barrels per day. This is up from 588,000 barrels per day a year earlier.

The company reported a profit adjusted of $977m, or 1 per share for the quarter ending Sept. 30. This is down from $1.13bn, or 1.18 per share a year earlier. According to data compiled from financial firm LSEG, analysts had predicted a profit per share of 74 cents. Reporting by Tanay dhumal from Bengaluru, and Gary McWilliams from Houston; Editing and production by Maju Samuel and David Gregorio

(source: Reuters)