Occidental Profit Up 71 Percent

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Occidental Petroleum Corp. reported a 71 percent jump in second quarter earnings, boosted by higher oil prices and operating profits in its chemicals and pipeline businesses.

The Los Angeles oil and natural gas producer on Tuesday reported net income of $1.82 billion ($2.23 per share), compared with $1.06 billion ($1.31) per share a year ago. The company’s chemical business more than doubled operating profit to $253 million. Operating profit at its oil marketing and pipeline business increased more than 14-fold to $187 million.

Revenue rose 34 percent to $6.17 billion.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters on average expected the company to report per-share profit of $2.16 per share on revenue of $5.79 billion.

Occidental sold oil for an average $103 per barrel during the quarter, about 39 percent higher than a year ago. Prices for dry natural gas rose 2 percent to $4.27 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Production was relatively flat, up 2 percent to 715,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, largely due to unrest in the Middle East and North Africa. The company has increase production in Texas and North Dakota, but doesn’t plan to increase capacity in California this year beyond its current 29 rigs.

Shares closed down $2.54, or 2.4 percent to $104.83 on the New York Stock Exchange.

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