I wrote this company profile as a part of my two weeks online course at Coursera conducted by Duke University. Readers can find a set of brief facts about 'Occidental Petroleum Corporation' that are good enough to get an overall review of the company's operations and performance over time.

1. Course:
Oil & Gas Industry Operation and Markets
Conducted by:
Duke University (via Coursera)
Assignment:
Oil and Gas Company Profile

2. Section 1: What the Company Does
 Occidental Petroleum Corporation is an international oil and gas exploration and production company.
Headquartered in Houston, it is one of the largest U.S. oil and gas companies based on equity market
capitalization.
 It is categorized as a publicly traded organization because its ownership is dispersed among the
general public in many shares of stock which are freely traded on a stock exchange/over the
counter markets.
 Occidental's exploration and production activities are concentrated in the following three geographic
regions:
1. United States (Permian Basin - New Mexico, West Texas ; Midcontinent - Colorado, South Texas)
2. Middle East (Oman, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Iraq, Libya, Yemen)
3. Latin America (Colombia, Bolivia)
 The following facts show why company is more dependent on demand for crude oil as compared to
raw natural gas:
1. Largest producer of oil in the Permian Basin in West Texas and southeast New Mexico.
2. Largest independent oil producer in Oman.
3. No.2 oil producer in offshore Qatar.
 By market value, it is among the top 10 US-based oil and gas companies with the total size of its
operations greater as compared to other competitors like Devon Energy, Valero Energy and Marathon
Petroleum. (Source: as reported by Statista)
Section 2: How the Company Has Performed
Relative Performance
 On May 28, 2015 JP Morgan’s Phil Gresh and John Royall initiated Occidental Petroleum Corp. (OXY)
with an Overweight rating and $85 price target, and placed it among the preferred stocks in their U.S.
coverage group that included ConocoPhillips (COP), Chevron (CVX) and ExxonMobil (XOM). They wrote
Occidental as a good mix of defensive and offensive businesses, which they saw driving production
growth at a compound annual growth rate of roughly 4.5% in the four-year period ending in 2018 in a
world of $70 oil in 2016 and beyond. (Source: BARRON'S - US Edition)
Grown, Shrunk or Unchanged?
Occidental had shrunk since the industry downturn which started in second half of the year 2014.
 The market capitalization at 2014 year-end was approximately $62.1 billion, which dropped to $56.3
billion in 2015 and $53.42 billion in 2016 as reported by Statista and Google Finance respectively.

3.  Oil and gas segment achieved core earnings of $5.7 billion in 2014, compared with $7.0 billion in
2013. Lower domestic earnings resulted from lower crude oil and NGL prices, higher operating costs,
and higher DD&A expense, partially offset by higher crude oil production volumes and improved
realized domestic gas prices. Whereas, lower international earnings reflected lower realized crude oil
prices and sales volumes, partially offset by lower operating expenses and DD&A. (Source: Financial
and Operational Results 2014)
Section 3: What the Successes Have Been for the Company
Significant successes over the past few years
(Source: Financial and Operational Results 2014)
 The company’s worldwide proved reserves increased from 2.74 billion BOE at the end of 2013 to 2.82
billion BOE at year-end 2014, giving the company an estimated reserve life of approximately 13 years
at current production levels.
 Permian Resources produced 75,000 BOEPD in 2014, a 15 percent increase from 65,000 BOEPD in
2013.
 Nearly three-quarters of Permian EOR oil production made Occidental the largest CO2 injector in the
Permian and a world leader in application of EOR technology.
 Maintaining "Single A" debt ratings gave it a competitive advantage in negotiating and winning large-
scale projects around the world, as well as providing enhanced financial liquidity.
 The cash balance of $7.8 billion exceeded the total debt of $6.8 billion at year-end, which helped the
company weather the current period of lower oil prices.
Plans for the upcoming several years
(Source: Management discussions and analysis 2014)
 Occidental would maintain its size and scale between the large integrated oil majors and the
independent E&P companies to stay an attractive investment alternative that combines positive
elements of both groups.
 As Permian EOR business has the agility, scale and cost structure to operate in an ultra-low-price
environment, it would invest sufficient capital to maintain current production, thereby providing free
cash flow to support our overall business.
 It would maintain a disciplined approach towards domestic acquisitions and divestitures and the
execution of international contracts.
 The company would maintain a low debt to capitalization ratio and retain sufficient cash on hand.
Furthermore, it will focus on lowering its costs which over time management believes will correlate to
increasing and decreasing oil prices.

4. Bibliography
Company's official website
http://www.oxy.com/aboutOccidental/Pages/default.aspx
Company's Annual Report
http://www.oxy.com/investors/Reports/Pages/Annual-Report.aspx
1. Financial and Operational Results 2014
2. Management discussions and analysis 2014
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occidental_Petroleum
Google Finance
https://www.google.com/finance?catid=us-TRBC%3A50102020&ei=iZ7IVtmXNNfKuASdgZ24AQ
Statista, The Statistics Portal
http://www.statista.com/statistics/241625/top-10-us-oil-and-gas-companies-based-on-market-value/
BARRON'S (U.S. Edition)
http://blogs.barrons.com/stockstowatchtoday/2015/05/28/occidental-petroleum-is-a-better-bet-than-exxon-
chevron-jpmorgan/