Thursday, Occidental Petroleum Corp. (OXY), an international oil and gas exploration and production company, posted a steep decline in third-quarter profit, as oil prices slumped from record highs of $104.15 per barrel last year.
The Los Angels, California-based company's third-quarter net income was $927 million or $1.14 per share, compared to $2.27 billion or $2.77 per share in the year-ago quarter.
Net income from continuing operations totaled $929 million or $1.14 per share, down from $2.27 billion or $2.77 per share in the same quarter of last year.
On average, 19 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to post earnings of $1.08 per share. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.
Quarterly net sales declined to $4.10 billion from the previous year's $7.06 billion, and fell shy of the $4.14 billion revenue consensus revenue estimate of four analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.
The company's Oil and Gas segment generated third-quarter sales of $3.09 billion, down from $5.42 billion in the year-earlier quarter. Segment earnings dropped to $1.46 billion from $3.62 billion last year, reflecting lower crude oil and natural gas prices, partially offset by higher oil and gas sales volumes and lower operating expenses.
Oxy's realized price for worldwide crude oil was $62.79 per barrel for the most recent quarter, compared with $104.15 per barrel for the third quarter of 2008.
Net sales at Chemical division plummeted to $842 million from $1.45 billion a year ago. Segment earnings dived to $72 million from $219 million a year earlier, citing the continued weakness in the U.S. housing, automotive and durable goods sectors resulting in lower margins for caustic soda and polyvinyl chloride and lower volumes for chlorine, caustic soda, potassium hydroxide and polyvinyl chloride.
Midstream, Marketing and Other segment fetched quarterly net sales of $285 million, compared to $381 million in the previous year. Earnings were $77 million, up from $66 million in the third quarter of 2008, reflecting better results in marketing operations, partially offset by lower margins in the gas processing business.
Kern County gross production run rates grew from 7,700 BOE per day around the end of the first quarter, to 17,300 BOE per day at the end of the second quarter and to about 26,000 BOE per day at the end of the third quarter.
For the nine-month period, the company reported net income of $1.98 billion or $2.43 per share, compared to $6.41 billion or $7.77 per share in 2008. Net income from continuing operations plunged to $1.98 billion or $2.44 per share from $6.39 billion or $7.74 per share in the prior-year period.
Net sales for the nine months of 2009 amounted to $10.9 billion, a decline from $20.2 billion in the corresponding period of the previous year.
Among Occidental Petroleum's rivals, EI DuPont de Nemours & Co. (DD) posted higher third-quarter net income that totaled $409 million or $0.45 per share, compared to $367 million or $0.40 per share in the prior-year quarter, reflecting tax benefit and the absence of prior-year's hurricane-related charge. Total sales declined to $6.16 billion from $7.72 billion in the previous year. Net sales, excluding other income, were down to $5.96 billion from $7.30 billion in the year-ago quarter.
DuPont revised its fiscal 2009 forecast for reported earnings to a range of $1.80 - 1.90 per share from prior range of $1.54 - $1.94 per share. Earnings, excluding significant items, are currently projected to be in the range of $1.95 - $2.05 per share, compared to the previous range of $1.70 - $2.10 per share.
Occidental Petroleum shares, which have been trading between $40.18 - $84.75 in the past 52 weeks, are currently trading at $81.40, down $0.15 or 0.18%.
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June 05, 2026 16:18 ET A busy week for economic news flow saw a slew of reports being released that reflected the trends in the U.S. labor market. In Europe, economic growth and inflation data gained attention as the European Central Bank and Bank of England head for policy session later in the month. In Asia, the monetary policy session of the Indian central bank was in focus as the country, a major oil importer, reels under the pressures of a weaker rupee and rising inflation.