US independent giant Occidental Petroleum sank to a loss of around $15.7 billion for the full year of 2020 but managed to keep production high.

The Houston-based player posted a net loss of $15.68 billion for the year, as against a loss of $985 million in 2019.

For the fourth quarter of last year, the loss was $1.31 billion, similar to the loss of $1.34 billion in the final period a year earlier and an improvement on the loss of $3.78 billion in last year's third quarter.

The average realised oil price for last year was $37.41 per barrel, well down on the $56.32 in 2019, as the coronavirus pandemic hammered global demand and commodity prices in 2020.

The average oil price in the fourth quarter was $40.77, down from $56.72 per barrel a year earlier.

Total production in 2020 averaged 1.35 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, up from 1.03 million boepd in 2019

Occidental confirmed a capital budget for this year of $2.9 billion to sustain 2021 production in line with last year's fourth quarter, while lowering the base decline to 22%.

It dipped in the fourth quarter, however, to 1.2 million boepd from the year-ago 1.49 million boepd.

Positioned for market improvement

Chief executive Vicki Hollub said: “We remain committed to strengthening our balance sheet and transitioned into 2021 with an improved financial position by achieving our 2020 divestiture target, reducing debt and successfully extending debt maturities.

“In the fourth quarter, our businesses again outperformed as our teams continue to leverage our technical expertise to mitigate production decline while relentlessly lowering costs.

"We continue to make progress on our debt structure and have significantly exceeded our cost savings targets while delivering operational excellence across our business.

"These decisive financial and operational actions reflect our leadership as a low-cost operator, positioning us for success when market conditions improve," Hollub said.

Finance

Occidental slips to $15.7bn full-year loss but oil and gas output strong