LOS ANGELES, April 30, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- Occidental Petroleum Corporation's (NYSE:OXY) chairman and chief executive officer, Dr. Ray R. Irani, reported Occidental's exceptional financial performance to the assembled stockholders at the company's annual meeting.
"Occidental's total return to stockholders in 2003 was a robust 53 percent, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average generated a total return of 28 percent. Over the last three years, our 93-percent total return to stockholders was nearly three times higher than our nearest competitor," said Dr. Irani. "Over that same period, our return on capital employed of 12.6 percent was 30 percent higher than the industry average of 8.8 percent, and Occidental's return on equity was 18.5 percent while the average for our competitors was just 11.9 percent."
Occidental's worldwide oil and natural gas production increased by an average of 6 percent per year from 2000 to 2003, with U.S. operations accounting for 63 percent of the company's total production in 2003. In addition, Occidental has reduced its debt to capitalization ratio from 57 percent to 33 percent from year-end 2000 through March 31, 2004.
Dr. Irani also told stockholders of Occidental's plans to return to Libya.
"The U.S. government's lifting of the economic sanctions on Libya removes the final obstacle to Occidental's return to Libya. We regard Libya as one of our high priority projects."
Statements in this presentation that contain words such as "will" or "expect", or otherwise relate 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 considerations, 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.