Occidental Petroleum Boosts Spending for 2018 After Permian, Middle East Spur Growth

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) (Houston, Texas) expects to spend more in 2018, after higher commodity prices and strong operational results in the Permian Basin and Middle East elevated its 2017 bottom line. Much of the domestic growth was attributed to its chemicals business, which is expanding along the U.S. Gulf Coast. Industrial Info is tracking more than $2.1 billion in active projects involving Occidental.

Occidental's $3.9 billion capital program for 2018 is weighted toward sustaining its existing assets, which account for 58% of the projected spending; growth projects account for 39%, and exploration just 3%. Among the projects planned for existing facilities in 2018 are $13 million in upgrades at a chlorine plant in Geismar, Louisiana, which is run by subsidiary Occidental Chemical Corporation and produces more than 438,000 tons per year; $3 million in upgrades at a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) resins plant in Pasadena, Texas, which is run by subsidiary OxyVinyls LP and produces about 1.96 billion pounds per year; and $5 million in equipment replacements at a chlorine and caustic soda plant in La Porte, Texas, also run by OxyVinyls, which would include the installation of a 68,000-pound steam chest. For more information, see Industrial Info's reports on the Geismar, Pasadena and La Porte projects.

Capital expenditures stood at $3.6 billion in 2017, up from $2.9 billion in 2016. Industrial Info is tracking $156 million in planned maintenance-related projects for Occidental, more than 90% of which are in the U.S.

Despite the emphasis on sustaining capital, Occidental executives estimate production growth of 8% to 12% worldwide in 2018, including 40% annual growth in its Permian Resources business. Strong growth also is expected at its Al Hosn Gas Plant in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), for which Occidental reported record production of 71 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) in 2017.

Al Hosn Gas, Occidental's subsidiary in the UAE, is in the early planning stages on a slew of projects which, if built, would significantly boost the company's processing capacity for oil and natural gas. These include an estimated $150 million oil and gas central processing plant on Dalma Island, which would have the capacity to process 25,000 barrels per day (BBL/d) of oil and 200 million standard cubic feet per day of natural gas. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.

The feedstock for the onshore plant would come from an estimated $100 million offshore oil and gas separation platform in the Arabian Basin, which would have the same processing capacity as the onshore plant. The offshore development would include seven wellhead platforms (WHP), each estimated at $12 million. TechnipFMC plc (London, England) and KBR Incorporated's (NYSE:KBR) (Houston, Texas) UAE subsidiary are among the contractors currently attached to the project. For more information, see Industrial Info's project reports on the separation platform and WHP-1, WHP-2, WHP-3, WHP-4, WHP-5, WHP-6 and WHP-7.

Occidental's preliminary worldwide proved reserves totaled 2.6 billion barrels of oil equivalent at the end of 2017, compared with 2.4 billion barrels of oil equivalent at the end of 2016. Proved reserve additions from all sources totaled 412 million barrels of oil equivalent, compared to production of 220 million barrels of oil equivalent, resulting in a reserves replacement ratio of 187%.

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