LOS ANGELES, April 1, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) announced today that it and its partners Petro-Canada and Petrofac have been selected through a competitive bidding process to negotiate a Production Sharing Contract for the development of the gas reserves in Syria's Palmyra area Gas Project. Occidental has a 25% percent interest in the Project, which the Syrian Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources has targeted for start up in 2007. Petro-Canada will be the operator. The Project will sell the gas into Syria's power generating markets.
Occidental is an industry leader in oil and natural gas exploration and development with over 60 percent of its worldwide production in the United States. The company is targeting the Middle East as a primary growth area and holds interests in oil producing operations in Oman, Qatar and Yemen. The company also holds a 24.5 percent interest in the Dolphin Project to develop and transport approximately 2 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas from Qatar's North Field to markets in the United Arab Emirates.
Statements in this presentation that contain words such as "will" or "expect", or otherwise related to the future, are forward-looking and involve risks and uncertainties that could significantly affect expected results. Factors that could cause results to differ materially include, but are not limited to: global commodity pricing fluctuations, and supply/demand consideration, for oil, gas and chemicals; higher-than-expected costs; and not successfully completing (or any material delay in) any expansion, capital expenditure, acquisition, or disposition. Occidental disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements.