Occidental Petroleum Could Offer 'Minimal Shareholder Return': Analyst

Shares of Occidental Petroleum Corp OXY have been in focus due to the delay in the CrownRock deal.

The Houston-based oil and gas company is likely to have "solid" production upside in the back half of the year, "driven by organic and external Permian activity as the company ramps activity, according to Truist Securities.

The Occidental Petroleum Analyst: Neal Dingmann downgraded the rating for Occidental Petroleum from Buy to Hold, while slashing its price target from $84 to $69.

The Occidental Petroleum Thesis: While the CrownRock acquisition, which is expected to close in the current quarter, does add quality inventory and production, it is likely to be less accretion than other recent deals, Dingmann said in the downgraded note.

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"OXY has 9.5mm US acres with ~1,700 undeveloped locations soon added with the CrownRock acquisition," the analyst wrote. While Occidental Petroleum has more acres than many US operators — 20% of the total is unconventional Permian Basin acres with even some of this not in what we might classify as likely core positions — less than 20% of the total is "unconventional Permian Basin acres with even some of this not in what we might classify as likely core positions," he added.

The upcoming quarters are likely to offer "minimal shareholder return," with Occidental Petroleum using most of its free cash flows and the proceeds from its divestiture program to reduce debt to below $15 billion, Dingmann further stated.

OXY Price Action: Shares of Occidental Petroleum had declined by 0.5% to $63.08 at the time of publication on Thursday.

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