NEW YORK – Occidental Petroleum Corp. (OXY), the No. 4 U.S. oil producer, Monday reported quarterly profit more than doubled, driven by record energy prices and gains from tax benefits and the sale of a stake.
The results were in line with Wall Street (search) forecasts, though the company's oil and gas output and results at its chemicals division disappointed some analysts.
Occidental, which earlier this month agreed to buy Vintage Petroleum (search) to expand in the Middle East and Latin America, posted a profit of $1.75 billion.
Oil and gas production fell slightly to 562,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in the quarter.
"Production volumes were lighter than we expected," Merrill Lynch (search) analyst John Herrlin wrote in a research note. "Upside was commodity price related with realizations better than our estimates in virtually every region."
On a conference call, the company forecast production of 580,000 to 590,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in the fourth quarter, citing a hit to output at its Horn Mountain facilities in October.
Revenue in the period rose 35 percent to nearly $4.06 billion, well above the $3.75 billion expected by Wall Street.
Quarterly profit from the oil and gas segment surged 46 percent to $1.76 billion. But earnings at its chemicals division disappointed analysts, dragged down by higher energy and feedstock costs.
Shares of Occidental were up 2.1 percent, or $1.60 a share, to $78.50 on the New York Stock Exchange in afternoon trade.
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