Occidental Petroleum 4Q Profit Skyrockets

LOS ANGELES - Occidental Petroleum Corp. on Tuesday said high oil and gas prices drove its fourth-quarter profit up 55 percent.

Quarterly earnings totaled $1.15 billion, or $2.80 per share, up from $742 million, or $1.83 per share, in the prior-year period.

Total sales rose to $4.33 billion from $3.08 billion in the year-earlier quarter. Los Angeles-based Occidental's largest oil and gas segment reported $3.03 billion in sales, up from $2.07 billion a year ago, while its chemicals segment increased sales to $1.26 billion from $985 million at the same time.

Analysts expected profit of $2.76 per share and sales of $4.27 billion, according to a Thomson Financial poll.

Worldwide production in the fourth quarter averaged 589,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day versus 558,000 barrels in the 2004 quarter.

Full-year profit expanded to $5.28 billion, or $12.91 per share, from $2.57 billion, or $6.40 per share, in 2004. Sales for the year jumped to $15.21 billion from $11.37 billion in 2004.
Shares of the company fell $3.89, or 4.1 percent, to close at $90.10 Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange.

(Associated Press )