OREANDA-NEWS. May 01, 2013. Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) announced income from continuing operations of USD 1.4 billion (USD 1.69 per diluted share) for the first quarter of 2013, compared with USD 1.6 billion (USD 1.92 per diluted share) for the first quarter of 2012. Net income for the first quarter of 2013 was also USD 1.4 billion (USD 1.68 per diluted share).

In announcing the results, Stephen I. Chazen, President and Chief Executive Officer, said, "Our first quarter domestic production of 478,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, of which 342,000 barrels per day were liquids, set a record for the tenth consecutive quarter. Our total company production of 763,000 barrels of oil equivalent in the first quarter of 2013 was 8,000 barrels higher than production in first quarter of 2012.

"We executed well in the first quarter and to date are running ahead of our full-year objectives in our program to improve domestic operational and capital efficiencies. We have reduced both our domestic well and operating costs by about 19 percent relative to 2012. Overall, we generated cash flow from operations of USD 2.9 billion before changes in working capital for the first quarter of 2013 and invested USD 2.1 billion in capital expenditures."

Oil and Gas
Oil and gas segment earnings were USD 1.9 billion for the first quarter of 2013, compared with \\$2.5 billion for the first quarter of 2012. The current quarter results reflected higher domestic liquids volumes and lower operating costs, which were offset by lower year-over-year oil and NGL prices, lower sales volumes in the Middle East/North Africa and higher DD&A rates.

Operating costs dropped significantly during the first quarter of 2013, especially domestically. The first quarter 2013 domestic operating costs were USD 14.06 per barrel, compared to USD 16.44 in the first quarter 2012, USD 17.17 in the fourth quarter 2012 and USD 17.43 for the full year 2012. For the entire company, the first quarter 2013 costs were USD 13.93 per barrel, compared to USD 14.99 for all of 2012. First quarter 2013 international operating costs were higher due principally to planned maintenance turnarounds.

For the first quarter of 2013, daily oil and gas production volumes averaged 763,000 barrels of oil equivalent (BOE), compared with 755,000 BOE in the first quarter of 2012. The first quarter 2013 production increase resulted from higher volumes of 23,000 BOE per day from domestic operations while international production was 15,000 BOE per day lower. The lower international production volumes were due to the combined effect of maintenance turnarounds in Qatar and the impact of full cost recovery in Oman and our Dolphin operations. The turnarounds were executed successfully and production has returned to normal levels.

Daily sales volumes increased slightly from 745,000 BOE in the first quarter of 2012 to 746,000 BOE in the first quarter of 2013. Sales volumes were lower than production volumes due to the timing of liftings in Middle East/North Africa.

Oxy’s realized price for worldwide crude oil was USD 98.07 per barrel for the first quarter of 2013, compared with USD 107.98 per barrel for the first quarter of 2012. NGL prices were USD 40.27 per barrel in the first quarter of 2013, compared with USD 52.51 per barrel in the first quarter of 2012. Domestic gas prices were higher in the first quarter of 2013 at USD 3.08 per MCF, compared with USD 2.84 in the first quarter of 2012.

First quarter 2013 realized prices were higher than fourth quarter 2012 prices for worldwide oil, while NGLs prices were lower and domestic natural gas prices were flat. On a sequential quarterly basis, prices increased 2 percent for oil and decreased 11 percent for NGLs.

Chemical
Chemical segment earnings for the first quarter of 2013 were USD 159 million, compared with USD 184 million in the first quarter of 2012. The lower earnings resulted from weaker chlorinated organics demand and pricing combined with higher natural gas costs, partially offset by higher caustic soda exports.

Midstream, Marketing and Other
Midstream segment earnings were USD 215 million for the first quarter of 2013, compared with USD 131 million for the first quarter of 2012. The increase mainly reflected improved marketing and trading performance.

About Oxy
Occidental Petroleum Corporation (OXY) is an international oil and gas exploration and production company with operations in the United States, Middle East/North Africa and Latin America regions. Oxy is one of the largest U.S. oil and gas companies, based on equity market capitalization. Oxy's wholly owned subsidiary OxyChem manufactures and markets chlor-alkali products and vinyls. Oxy is committed to safeguarding the environment, protecting the safety and health of employees and neighboring communities and upholding high standards of social responsibility in all of the company's worldwide operations.