Occidental Petroleum (OXY) Earnings Report: Q1 2015 Conference Call Transcript

May 06:

Company Participants
  • Chris Degner; Occidental Petroleum; Senior Director - IR
  • Steve Chazen; Occidental Petroleum; President, CEO
  • Chris Stavros; Occidental Petroleum; SVP, CFO
  • Vicki Hollub; Occidental Petroleum; SVP, President, Oxy Oil and Gas
  • Sandy Lowe; Occidental Petroleum; VP
Other Participants
  • Doug Leggate; Bank of America Merrill Lynch; Analyst
  • Evan Calio; Morgan Stanley; Analyst
  • Guy Baber; Simmons & Company; Analyst
  • Ed Westlake; Credit Suisse; Analyst
  • Ryan Todd; Deutsche Bank; Analyst
  • Roger Read; Wells Fargo Securities; Analyst
  • Paul Sankey; Wolfe Research; Analyst
  • John Herrlin; Societe Generale; Analyst
MANAGEMENT DISCUSSION SECTION
Operator:
Good morning and welcome to the Occidental Petroleum Corporation first-quarter 2015 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) Please note this event is being recorded.

Chris Degner
 (Senior Director - IR):I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Chris Degner, Senior Director of Investor Relations.
Thank you, Rocco. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for participating in Occidental Petroleum's first-quarter 2015 conference call.
On the call with us today are Steve Chazen, OXY'sPresident and Chief Executive Officer; Vicki Hollub, Senior Executive Vice President of Occidental and President, OXY Oil and Gas; Chris Stavros, Chief Financial Officer; Willie Chiang, Executive Vice President of Operations; and Sandy Lowe, President of our International Oil and Gas Operations.
In just a moment I will turn the call over to our CEO, Steve Chazen, who will provide an updated outlook for 2015. Our CFO, Chris Stavros, will review our financial and operating results for the first quarter and also provide some guidance for 2015. Followed by Vicki Hollub, who will provide an update of our activities in the Permian Basin.
As a reminder, today's conference call contains certain projections and other forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities laws. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in these statements.
Additional information on factors that could cause the results to differ materially is available in the Company's most recent Form 10-K. Our first-quarter 2015 earnings press release, the investor relations supplemental schedules, our non-GAAP to GAAP reconciliations, and the conference call presentation slides can be downloaded off our web site at www.OXY.com.
I will now turn the call over to Steve Chazen. Steve, please go ahead.
Steve Chazen (President, CEO):
Thank you, Chris. Yesterday we announced that Vicki Hollub has been named to head our worldwide oil company and will succeed me as CEO when I retire. Both of us will be visiting shareholders, either at conferences or in their offices, over the next few months. My commitment is to remain in place until the Board and Vicki feel it is time for me to move on, but not any longer.
Vicki has worked for OXY for over 30 years. She has had a number of very challenging assignments over the years, including Operations Manager in Ecuador and Russia. In our California assets she reorganized the business and changed its processes so it would be stable in a wide range of product prices. She has built our Permian Resources business into a sustainable, profitable growth engine for OXY .
She is an accomplished team builder and has the confidence of executives and employees throughout the business. She also has had the misfortune of officing next to me for the last couple of years.
The Board, of which I am a part, has worked on this succession plan for the last two years. The directors interviewed a number of executives and considered both internal and external candidates. In the current volatile business climate, our view is that an experienced successful executive who knows our business well is the best choice. You will find Vicki to be a thoughtful, engaging agent of change for OXY .
Yesterday we also announced a dividend increase of just over 4%. This is our 13th consecutive year that we've raised our dividend. We carefully considered our future capital needs and likely cash flows. Our current estimates are that we should be able to continue to grow our dividend for many years into the future.
The new ethylene cracker which comes on in 2017 provides a substantial boost to distributable cash from our already important Chemical business. Our base oil business in Abu Dhabi, Oman, and the Permian EOR will all support our cash flow and grow modestly over time.

Source: http://www.thestreet.com/story/13141279/1/occidental-petroleum-oxy-earnings-report-q1-2015-conference-call-transcript.html?

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