LOS ANGELES, April 24, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) issued the following statement: We learned from media reports that a complaint had been filed against Occidental in U.S. District Court, Central District of California, relating to the loss of civilian lives during a military action in Santo Domingo, Colombia, in December 1998. We also received a statement announcing that the plaintiff in this action would be holding a press conference with former State Senator Tom Hayden outside our Annual Stockholders' Meeting on April 25.
While we have not had an opportunity to study the complaint, we believe that any suggestion that Occidental Petroleum was responsible in any way for the Santo Domingo tragedy resulting from military action involving Colombian armed forces and elements of the terrorist group known by its Spanish acronym, FARC, is completely false. Occidental has not and does not provide lethal aid to Colombia's armed forces.
Occidental will vigorously contest any allegation that it is responsible for the Santo Domingo tragedy or any other incident involving Colombia's military operations. In fact, Occidental and its Colombian employees have been routinely victimized by armed terrorist groups that were operating, and continue to operate, in the vicinity of Santo Domingo and throughout the state of Arauca. Last December, armed terrorists were responsible for the deaths of four employees of an Occidental contractor and the wounding of fifteen others when they detonated a bomb that destroyed a commuter bus that was returning the workers to their homes at the end of a work day at the Cano Limon oil field operated by Occidental.
We understand that Colombian court proceedings relating to the events surrounding the civilian deaths in Santo Domingo are ongoing. Occidental is not a target of these proceedings.