User:CBuiltother/Occidental Petroleum Oil and gas

Oil and gas
Occidental’s growth strategy in oil and gas relies on three components: enhanced oil recovery (EOR), exploration and acquisitions. Occidental’s oil and gas operations are focused in three core areas, the United States, the Middle East/North Africa, and South America. Occidental had approximately 3.23 billion barrels of oil equivalent net proved reserves at December 31, 2009.

The United States accounted for 64 percent of Occidental's oil and gas reserves and 53 percent of the current production in 2009. Occidental is the largest producer of natural gas and second-largest producer of oil in California, where in 2009 it made what is believed to be the largest oil and natural gas discovery in the state in 35 years. Occidental also has significant oil and natural gas holdings in the Permian Basin of West Texas and Southeast New Mexico. Occidental is the largest oil producer in the Permian Basin, where it produced roughly 201,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2009 and held 1.1 billion barrels of proved reserves as of December 31, 2009. In the Permian Basin, Occidental is the largest operator of EOR oil projects that inject carbon dioxide into underground formations to extract the oil and gas that remains after primary recovery operations. In 2010, the company’s 31 CO2 projects produced nearly 85,000 barrels of oil as a result of EOR, according to Oil & Gas Journal’s biennial EOR survey.

Occidental’s Mid-Continent Gas operations are concentrated in the Permian Basin, Kansas, Colorado, Utah and Oklahoma. These operations produced approximately 41,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2009 and had proved reserves of 191 million barrels of oil equivalent, as of December 31, 2009.

Occidental’s Middle East and North Africa operations accounted for 35% of its worldwide production in 2009, producing approximately 254,000 barrels of oil equivalent. The region also holds 29 percent of the company’s proved reserves. In the Middle East, Occidental has operations in Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Iraq and Yemen. Oxy is the second-largest oil producer in Oman. In Qatar, it is a partner in the giant Dolphin natural gas project, which delivers gas to Oman and the United Arab Emirates. The company has its only operation in North Africa in Libya. In 2005, Occidental and partner Liwa won eight out of 15 exploration spots on the EPSA-4 auction, making both companies among the first to enter the Libyan market since the United States lifted its embargo on that country.

In South America, Occidental operates in Argentina, Bolivia and Colombia. Occidental’s share of production from its Argentina and Colombia assets was approximately 42,000 barrels of oil per day and approximately 39,000 barrels of oil per day, respectively, in 2009. In Colombia, Occidental and Ecopetrol, the state-owned oil company, discovered the giant Caño Limón oilfield in 1983. It proved to be the largest discovery in Colombia’s oil history and helped return the country to the oil-exporter status.

Occidental formerly operated in Ecuador, but the government ended the company's interests in block 15 in the Ecuadorian Amazon in 2006.