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| Statement |
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| Our Top Spot well, which we also discussed in our second quarter earnings call, continued its strong performance trajectory and delivered the highest six-month cumulative production of any horizontal well ever in the New Mexico, Delaware Basin |
| It immediately adds, you can think about it from a growth standpoint, a really nice growth wedge this year, both from a free cash flow basis, but also a decline basis |
| 2023 was a great year for us, thanks to the performance of all of our teams in Oxy |
| Our midstream business is well positioned to benefit from a reduction in crude oil transportation rates from the Permian to the Gulf Coast by the end of the third quarter of 2025 |
| These continue to position us to deliver sustainable and growing returns for our shareholders through our premier asset portfolio, advanced technology and robust commercial runway |
| Last year, our talented and committed teams across the company applied advanced technical expertise, operating skills, leading-edge technologies and innovation to our exceptional portfolio, and they delivered results, $5.5 billion in free cash flow, which enabled us to pay $600 million of common dividends, repurchase $1.8 billion of common shares and redeem $1.5 billion of preferred shares, while also investing $6.2 billion back into the business |
| Well-designed optimization in the DJ Basin that we presented in our second quarter earnings call contributed to a 32% productivity improvement from 2022 |
| This was driven by record new well productivity rates across our domestic assets in the Delaware, Midland and DJ basins, and internationally by record production from Block 9 in Oman |
| And in addition, we safely completed the expansion of the Al Hosn plant in the UAE, which also delivered record annual production |
| Despite negative price revisions, well performance across our portfolio enabled us to achieve an all-in reserves replacement ratio of 137% in 2023 and a three-year average ratio of 183% |
| Our teams are focused on extending Oxy’s track record of operational excellence and solid execution on our path to delivering growing and sustainable shareholder returns over the long-term |
| The scale of these developments and the very low development costs lead to good returns |
| OxyChem performed exceptionally well in 2023 |
| It exceeded guidance and achieved $1.5 billion in pre-tax income for the third time in its history, due largely to lower energy costs and an efficient planned turnaround at our Ingleside plant, even as product markets softened compared to 2022 |
| The fourth quarter of 2023 was an exciting way to conclude a successful year |
| In oil and gas, we delivered our highest quarterly production in over three years and outperformed the midpoint of our production guidance, despite a third-party interruption in the Gulf of Mexico |
| We believe that a strengthened balance sheet and Oxy’s premier portfolio will enable future increases to our common dividend and rebalance enterprise value in favor of our common shareholders |
| As a result of the acquisition, we expect to strengthen our balance sheet, improve our resilience in lower commodity price environments and free up cash from interest payments to support future sustainable dividend growth and shareholder purchases |
| Last year, our production in our global oil and gas business exceeded the midpoint of our original four-year production guidance by 43,000 BOE per day |
| The OxyChem Battleground and plant enhancement projects are expected to generate incremental benefits to EBITDA of $300 million to $400 million per year once complete |
| This year’s full year guidance is close to the fourth best year ever for the chemicals segment, despite potential challenging market conditions |
| In 2023, OxyChem generated pre-tax income nearly matching its second highest year ever |
| I’m really pleased with the development work on that end, and then, obviously, Carbon Engineering, we’ve been getting to work more and more with, and I’m really happy with the progress that is going through R&D to project work with Ken that will fulfill that development work |
| Their efforts generated the exciting achievements we covered today, as well as the great progress that is underway to position us for a successful 2024 |
| So to be able to get to a point where, in just a little over two years, where we have through these projects and cost reduction, we are $1.7 billion better in terms of cash flow, that’s pretty significant for us and something that we’re really looking forward to and excited about |
| As Vicki mentioned, well-designed and operational expertise drove production outperformance in the Rockies last year |
| But when the market does present itself, we are well positioned to capture these opportunities |
| Our teams exceeded the midpoint of guidance across all three business segments during the fourth quarter and we delivered outstanding operational performance |
| In the Midland Basin, technical excellence, including the basin-leading Barnett wells, drove a one-year cumulative improvement in well productivity of over 30% compared to the prior year |
| We see tremendous potential in LCB to increase Oxy’s cash flow resilience and generate solid long-term returns for our shareholders |
| Statement |
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| Now, sulfur prices are at a near-term low of around $70 per ton and that is primarily due to weak Asian fertilizer demand and also sale of built-up sulfur inventories by major regional producers |
| Our guidance for Q1 reflects the combination of PVC price erosion largely associated with contract adjustments in Q4, typical seasonal subdued demand in both PVC and caustic, and export pricing pressure on caustic from China |
| The expected first quarter decrease in production is primarily driven by the relatively lower activity levels and working interest in the Permian Basin in last year’s fourth quarter |
| January winter storm impacts of approximately 8,000 BOE per day in our domestic onshore assets, annual plant maintenance at Dolphin, and the Gulf of Mexico unplanned downtime event |
| And Permian EOR, like Richard said, has one of the lowest base decline in our portfolio |
| This outage led to a lower-than-expected company-wide oil cut and a higher-than-anticipated domestic operating costs per BOE |
| So one of the main drivers for the relatively lower guidance for this year is an assumption on the spread for the gas transportation contracts |
| I think one area that surprised us a bit was the full year midstream guide |
| Vicki Hollub I think, there is -- the projects there were pushed out a bit just like many other things because of supply chain issues and also dealing a little bit with inflation |
| So I think that it would be very difficult to put the number out there at this point |
| So obviously we cannot predict these events, so our guidance assumes compressed gas transportation spreads |
| Total company production guidance in the first quarter reflects a low point for 2024, with a significant step-up expected in the remainder of the year |
| For example, when the cold weather event occurred in the West Coast in the first quarter |
| Ultimately, we’re getting way ahead of the game here to be sure that we’re ready, because we do believe that the climate transition would not be affordable for the world without EOR being able to produce net zero carbon barrels of oil |
| So that will be a bit delayed |
| The regular, let’s call it, still modest growth there |
| I’m a little more surprised in a more upstream-oriented company |
| As Vicki discussed, we also expect the planned mid-cycle investments in our conventional Gulf of Mexico and Permian EOR assets to provide cash flow resiliency through lower decline conventional production |
| And the last thing I would say is, we think this is sort of the low point in terms of the midstream income |
| There’s other things that drive very competitive returns there |
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