Occidental selling upstream assets to slash debt

Houston-based energy company Occidental (Oxy) has made progress on its debt-reduction plan by reaching a near-term debt repayment target and signing two agreements to divest upstream assets to undisclosed buyers.

According to Oxy, the near-term $4.5 billion repayment target was achieved in Q4 2024 and the $1.2 billion contracts to divest upstream assets were signed in Q1 2025. While the two sales deals have not yet been closed, they are expected to do so this quarter. 

The assets include Rockies non-operated assets and Permian Basin assets not included in the firm’s near-term development plan. The U.S. player said the sales proceeds will be put towards the company’s remaining 2025 debt maturities.

“We were pleased to reach the near-term deleveraging milestone in the fourth quarter of 2024, within five months of closing the CrownRock acquisition, and seven months ahead of our goal,” said Occidental’s President and CEO, Vicki Hollub.

“The transactions announced today continue to high grade our portfolio and accelerate the progress toward achieving both our medium-term balance sheet deleveraging target and shareholder return pathway.”

Announced in December 2023, Occidental’s acquisition of CrownRock was completed in August 2024. The move boosted the Houston-based company’s Permian portfolio, with Wood Mackenzie stating that the completion of the merger would establish Oxy as a top three producer in the Permian behind the oil majors.

In the summer of 2024, Beacon Offshore Energy brought online its Winterfell project in the Gulf of Mexico/America. The start-up of oil production was made possible thanks to a tie-back to the Oxy-operated Heidelberg spar platform.