Occidental Tops Profit Estimates

U.S. oil and natural gas producer Occidental Petroleum Corp beat quarterly profit estimates on Monday, benefiting from a surge in production in the Permian Basin and higher prices.

The company, which has been investing heavily to boost production in Permian, said output in the basin surged about 62 percent to 225,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) in the third quarter.

The company's average production rose about 13.5 percent to 681,000 boe/d.

The Houston-based company's net income rose to $1.87 billion, or $2.44 per share, in the quarter ended Sept. 30, from $190 million, or 25 cents per share, a year earlier.

In the latest quarter, the company had an after-tax gain on the sale of midstream assets of about $700 million.

Excluding one-time items, Occidental earned $1.77 per share. By that measure, analysts had expected earnings of $1.54 per share, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

The company plans to hold a conference call with investors to discuss the quarterly results on Tuesday.

(Reporting by Shanti S Nair; Editing by Maju Samuel)