By Tanay Dhumal
(Reuters) -Odcidental Petroleum said on Tuesday that it had closed two deals in the current quarter to divest some electricity assets to non -known buyers for a total of $ 1.2 billion, although the production prognosis of the current quarter no more than than The expectations achieved.
The transactions, including non-exploited assets from Rockies and Perm-basins that are not part of the company’s development plan, are expected to be concluded by the end of the current quarter.
The company said it was planning to use the proceeds of the transactions to reduce the debts that increased after it had closed the acquisition of $ 12 billion of private crown lock in August last year.
The company also reported an adjusted profit of 80 cents per share in the fourth quarter, whereby the average estimate of analysts of 70 cents per share was defeated, according to data collected by LSEG, helped by an increase in production of 18.6 % with 1.46 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (mmkoepd) of the previous year.
Occidental also increased its quarterly balance dividend by 9% to 24 cents per share.
The production forecast of the current quarter of the oil and gas company, however, did not come between 1.37 and 1.41 mmkoepd not to the expectations of Wall Street of 1.43 mm either.
Roth analysts said in a comment that they are expecting a slight negative reaction on Wednesday, hurt by “slowing down his chemical activities, the lower long-term production extremity versus colleagues and his strategy to sell assets in a weaker environment.”
Occidental also reported a loss of the fourth quarter of $ 297 million on Tuesday, compared to a profit of $ 1.03 billion compared to a year earlier, because it was damaged by environmental liability and lower prices.
Shares fell by 1.4% to $ 48.14 in extensive trade.
In the current year, the company expects to spend between $ 7.4 billion and $ 7.6 billion, an increase of approximately 10% compared to last year in the middle of the point.
(Reporting by Tanay Dhumalu in Bengaluru; Edit by Anil d’Ilva)
