Occidental says third-quarter production is inside guidance despite a Gulf curtailment

Occidental Petroleum told investors on October 13 that third-quarter production is tracking within its guidance range even after a third-party gas pipeline constraint and maintenance work forced it to curtail output at some Gulf of America facilities in September. The company's pre-earnings considerations, furnished as Exhibit 99.1 to a Form 8-K, put Gulf of America net sales volumes at 110,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, domestic lease operating cost at $8.54 per barrel, and worldwide realized oil prices at $85.91 a barrel.

Occidental Petroleum's pre-earnings filing tells investors which line items moved in the third quarter and leaves out what the quarter earned. The document is Exhibit 99.1 to a Form 8-K furnished under Item 2.02, and it keeps to a short list of operating and price variables.

A checklist, not a result

Occidental furnished a summary of considerations rather than any measure of profit. "The summary is intended only to provide information regarding current estimates of these factors", the company writes, and it states that the summary "is not an estimate of the third quarter of 2026 earnings for Occidental." Revenue, earnings per share, cash flow totals, capital spending and any revision to full-year guidance are absent, and the company cautions that the summary is preliminary, may not capture every adjustment required, and remains subject to the finalization of its financial reporting process.

The share count was the only other company-wide figure in the document: average diluted shares outstanding of 1.01 billion for the quarter, up 0.97% from 1 billion a year earlier and barely changed from 1.01 billion in the second quarter.

A September outage that stayed inside guidance

Occidental's first bullet is reassurance: "Total company production for the third quarter of 2026 is within Occidental's guidance range and includes the temporary Gulf of America downtime described below." The downtime had two causes: "In September, Occidental temporarily curtailed production at certain Gulf of America facilities due to a third-party gas pipeline constraint and maintenance activities." The company adds that "Production has been partially restored, with the remaining impacted production expected to return as the third-party gas pipeline constraint is resolved."

To size the effect, Occidental estimates Gulf of America net sales volumes of 110,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, a domestic lease operating cost of $8.54 per barrel of oil equivalent, and oil at 48.8% of total company production. Neither the second-quarter nor the year-earlier considerations document publishes a lease operating cost or a Gulf of America volume line, so those two estimates have no direct comparison in the filings themselves.

Oil realizations up on the year, down on the quarter

The average price Occidental realized for its oil was $85.91 a barrel worldwide, up 32.62% from $64.78 a year earlier but down 11.23% from $96.78 in the second quarter. Realized oil matched the West Texas Intermediate benchmark at 100% of that index, while Brent averaged $91.62 and Occidental's oil fetched 94% of it.

NGL realizations of $24.63 a barrel were up from $19.60 a year earlier and essentially unchanged from the second quarter's $24.64. Domestic natural gas realized $1.61 per thousand cubic feet, 54% of the $2.97 NYMEX average. Oil prices were up from a year earlier but down from the second quarter. The exhibit also reports the quarter's crude oil collar settlement figure: "Crude oil collar settlements for the third quarter of 2026 negatively impacted operating cash flow before working capital by $94 million", against $156 million in the prior quarter, a 39.74% smaller drag.

A full result is still to come

Nothing in the considerations summary settles what the quarter earned. The document previews a handful of variables, and Occidental's forward-looking note points readers to its other filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, for the fuller picture. The first items to check once that report lands are the Gulf of America volumes, and whether the $8.54 domestic lease operating cost per barrel of oil equivalent holds now that the temporary curtailment is lifting.