Occidental Petroleum Corp News

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is moving too slowly to allow states to permit and oversee carbon-reduction projects, according to Louisiana's governor, slowing millions of dollars in investments designed to tackle greenhouse gas reduction.Louisiana and other top oil-producing states say they can speed up permitting of carbon sequestration projects if allowed to handle decisions that currently fall under the EPA. There are dozens of these projects with multi-million…

U.S. oil majors Exxon Mobil Corp and Chevron Corp were among the top buyers at a federal auction of oil leases in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday that generated more than $190 million - the highest since 2019.The auction was a boon for federal coffers, but a potential setback for the climate policies of U.S. President Joe Biden, whose administration tried to suspend federal lease sales to fight global warming before a court forced them to proceed.The United States was also…

The Biden administration's auction of oil drilling rights in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico generated more than $190 million in high bids, bringing in more money for taxpayers than any government offshore lease sale since early 2019.The Department of Interior auction came days after the U.S. joined a global agreement that for the first time asked governments to accelerate emissions cuts by phasing down coal and fossil fuel subsidies.It was the first auction under President Joe Biden, whose administration paused drilling sales under a promise to end development on federal properties.

Chevron Corp and Occidental Petroleum Corp said on Thursday they were withdrawing staff and implementing storm precautions at their U.S. Gulf of Mexico offshore facilities ahead of a brewing tropical storm.A weather disturbance over the Gulf of Mexico could become a tropical storm by Friday and take aim at the Louisiana and Mississippi coasts, the U.S. National Weather Service said on Thursday.“All of our facilities have plans to prepare for weather-related events and are implementing those procedures,” Occidental said on its website.

BP Plc began turning off production at three platforms in the northern Gulf of Mexico and evacuating workers because of the threat from Tropical Storm Cristobal, forecast to make landfall in Louisiana over the weekend, the company said.Norwegian state-oil company Equinor ASA began evacuating non-essential workers on Wednesday and plans to shut production on Friday at its Titan oil platform if the storm continues along its projected path, spokesman Hasting Stewart said.Occidental Petroleum Corp also began flying non-essential workers to shore from central Gulf of Mexico operations…

A flotilla of oil tankers is sailing empty from Europe and the Mediterranean toward the U.S. Gulf Coast to take advantage of surging shipping rates, according to shipping sources and Refinitiv Eikon data on Monday.Eight tankers, an unusually high number, are in the Atlantic and steaming to the United States, with capacity of up to 5.6 million barrels of oil combined, the people said. Freight rates for Aframax vessels out of the U.S. Gulf coast hit record levels last month, drawing more vessels to the region.The United States exported a record 4.46 million barrels of crude oil per day (bpd) in the week ended Dec. 27, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, as shale producers continued to deliver more oil than U.S.

Occidental Petroleum Corp provisionally chartered a supertanker to ship U.S. crude to South Korea for a new record of $13.25 million in November, three shipping sources familiar with the matter said on Monday.The Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) Maran Andromeda was chartered by Occidental on Friday for an estimated November 20 departure, according to one shipbroker and Refinitiv Eikon shipping data.Global shipping rates, and in particular U.S. Gulf Coast to Asia, have skyrocketed after the United States in late September imposed sanctions on two units of China's COSCO, alleging involvement in ferrying crude out of Iran.U.S. Gulf Coast exporters have held back on chartering COSCO-linked vessels and scrambled to replace those already on charter over the past two weeks…

Oil shipping rates are soaring following a series of sanctions on a Chinese transportation giant and limitations placed on movement of Venezuelan crude oil tankers.WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO SHIPPING RATES?The cost of chartering a supertanker to send crude oil from one country to another is rising sharply. A South Korean importer paid more than $12 million in shipping costs for one crude shipment from the U.S. Gulf Coast. This was followed by Friday's tentative charter of another crude…

Occidental Petroleum Corp provisionally chartered a supertanker to ship U.S. crude to South Korea for a new record of $13.25 million in November, three shipping sources familiar with the matter said on Monday.The Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) Maran Andromeda was chartered by Occidental on Friday for an estimated Nov. 20 departure, according to one shipbroker and Refinitiv Eikon shipping data.Global shipping rates, and in particular U.S. Gulf Coast to Asia <TD-LPP-SIN>, have skyrocketed after the United States in late September imposed sanctions on two units of China's COSCO, alleging involvement in ferrying crude out of Iran.U.S. Gulf Coast exporters have held back on chartering COSCO-linked vessels and scrambled to replace those already on charter over the past two weeks…

American multinational energy corporation Chevron is working on integrating the hydrocarbon exploration company Anadarko Petroleum, even as it faces a higher rival takeover bid for the oil explorer from Occidental Petroleum Corp, said a report in Bloomberg.However, it is becoming increasingly difficult for Anadarko to justify sticking with Chevron's$30.9 billion takeover as its shares gain following Occidental Petroleum higher offer."The bidding war is breaking out over Anadarko, together using Occidental making an offer it says is about a 20% premium into Chevron’s deal announced earlier this month, some rare movement not often seen from the U.S.

Moda Midstream LLC is considering building a second berth at its Ingleside, Texas, crude export terminal to accommodate booming shale oil production on the Gulf Coast, the company's chief executive said on Thursday.The expansion to the terminal that loads oil tankers will come as three major pipelines open in the second half of 2019, CEO Bo McCall said in an interview. Moda is also increasing the facility's crude storage capacity to 10 million barrels from 2 million."When these new pipelines come online…

United States taking share from OPEC nations in Asia, Europe, as China’s biggest U.S. crude buyer to double imports. In the two years since Washington lifted a 40-year ban on oil exports, tankers filled with U.S. crude have landed in more than 30 countries, ranging from massive economies like China and India to tiny Togo. The repeal has unleashed a flood of U.S. shale oil, undercutting global crude prices, eroding the clout of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and seizing market share from many of its member countries. In 2005, before the shale revolution, the United States had net imports of 12.5 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude and fuels - compared to just 4 million bpd today. U.S.

Ecuador has paid $112 million to energy company Chevron Corp over a four-decade-old contract dispute, even though it remains in disagreement, the head of the central bank has said. A Hague arbitration court awarded the U.S. company $96 million in 2011 in a dispute stemming from a 1973 deal that called for Texaco, later acquired by Chevron, to develop fields in exchange for selling oil to Ecuador at below-market rates. Various appeals by Ecuador against the ruling failed. "We have today paid around $112 million," the central bank head Diego Martinez told a local radio station late on Friday. That amount represented the award plus interest. "We don't agree with how these international mechanisms work ...

A private logistics company is building an export terminal at the southernmost tip of Texas in Brownsville to receive super-light crude and process it into fuel components for export. Centurion Terminals also is building its Delaware Basin Express, which includes two terminals in far West Texas to receive condensate, a very light form of crude oil, that will reach its Port of Brownsville terminal via rail, a company executive said. Both are slated to start up in the third quarter 2016. Centurion Terminals, which is not affiliated with Occidental Petroleum Corp or its subsidiary, Centurion Pipeline, said this week the company had secured a 10-year, take-or-pay contract with an undisclosed anchor shipper, enabling construction to start on the West Texas system.

Occidental Petroleum Corp told regulators on Friday that a top executive, Willie Chiang, has suddenly quit - a month after Vicki Hollub was picked to eventually replace Chief Executive Steve Chazen. Hollub, a longtime Occidental employee, will become the first woman to head a major U.S. oil company. That is expected to occur next year. Chiang was the company's executive vice president, operations, and had reported directly to Chazen. An Occidental spokesperson was not immediately available for comment.  (Reporting By Terry Wade and Anna Driver; Editing by Bernard Orr)

More than a dozen U.S. oil producers have joined to lobby the federal government to reverse the 40-year-old ban on U.S. crude exports, a move that supporters hope would create jobs and boost national security, a spokesman for one of the companies and a lobbyist for another one said on Friday. Producers for American Crude Oil Exports, or PACE, is the first lobbying group to form on reversing the ban. "The end game here is legislative repeal of the ban," said a lobbyist for one of the member producers, who did not want to be named because the group was only recently formed. Congress passed the trade restriction in the 1970s after the Arab oil embargo caused fears of domestic oil shortages.

Energy companies have become a larger presence in the US high-yield bond market this year, relying on debt to fund capex as they expand exploration and production activity, but months of heavy issuance and weaker oil prices are taking their toll. Some recent bond deals have struggled to get across the line, only to end up still getting punished in secondary. Apollo's US$1.1bn LBO bond for Jupiter Resources, for example, has traded as low as 89 - even after coming to market last month with a five-point discount. "A lot of high-yield energy companies, particularly those developing shale plays, are spending more money than they are taking in," Patrick Faul, head of research at Calvert Investments, told IFR.

1806  - Spring pole cable drilling developed in US. 1844  - Fluid circulating rotary well drilling patented in England. 1845  - Circulated fluid used to remove drill cuttings for first time. 1860  - Fluid circulation rotary diamond coring drill developed in France. 1869 – T homas Fitch Rowland  patents  a “submarine drilling apparatus,” a fixed, working platform for drilling offshore to a depth of almost 50 feet. The anchored tower had telescoping legs, similar to modern offshore platforms. 1878  - First bulk oil tanker begins operation in the Caspian Sea. 1891  - First ocean-going tanker launched. 1897  - Wells drilled off piers in Summerland, Calif. 1905 – Oil discovered in the Caddo Pine Island field in Lousiana. 1911  -  Gulf Refining Co.

Occidental Petroleum Corp. said it was unable to load an oil tanker waiting at Colombia's main lifting terminal at Covenas because of back-to-back rebel bomb attacks on the country's second largest crude export pipeline. The one million barrel capacity storage tanks at the Caribbean coast terminal have been empty since at least last week, and an Occidental spokesman said two shipments were canceled last week because of the problem.