Occidental Petroleum Corp. on Tuesday said first-quarter net income jumped 74 percent from the year-earlier period.

The L.A.-based oil company reported net income of $846 million ($2.09 a share) versus $487 million ($1.24 a share) in the year-ago period. Sales rose 29 percent to $3.3 billion, from $2.56 billion a year earlier. Occidental and other oil companies are reporting windfall profits due to rising oil prices.

Occidental was paid an average of $41.71 per barrel of oil in the quarter, up 37 percent from the year earlier. Oil and gas production fell 0.5 percent from a year earlier to the equivalent of 565,000 barrels of oil a day. The company expects to increase output to the equivalent of 600,000 barrels per day by the end of the year.

In early afternoon trading on Tuesday, Occidental shares fell 1.3 percent to $72.43.