LOS ANGELES, May 2, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) announced today that it has signed a Heads of Agreement with the government of Oman to develop the Mukhaizna oil field, one of the largest oilfields in Oman. Under the terms of a new Production Sharing Contract, Occidental will be operator of the field. Occidental's partner in the project is Liwa Energy Limited, which is owned by Mubadala Development, the investment and development company wholly owned by the Government of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.
An image of a map of the Mukhaizna oilfield is available at http://media.primezone.com/cache/3/file/1874.html
Located in central Oman, the Mukhaizna field was discovered in 1975 by Petroleum Development Oman (PDO). The field is currently producing approximately 10,000 barrels of oil per day. Occidental and its partners expect to invest over US$2 billion to implement a large-scale steam flood to increase production to approximately 150,000 barrels per day within the next few years and to recover approximately 1 billion barrels of oil over the life of the project.
"We are very pleased to have been chosen to work as partners with Oman to develop this important project," said Dr. Ray R. Irani, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer. "This is another step in the implementation of our growth strategy in one of our core areas. Occidental is an industry leader in increasing and prolonging production from mature and under-developed fields by applying cutting-edge technology and state-of-the-art reservoir management techniques. This is an exciting opportunity to create value for the people of Oman and for our stockholders."
Occidental has been active in Oman since 1979. During the first quarter 2005, Occidental's daily net production in Oman averaged 23,000 barrels of oil and 56 million cubic feet of gas, for a combined rate of 32,000 barrels of oil equivalent.
Statements in this presentation that contain words such as "will," "expect" or "estimate," 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: exploration risks such as drilling of unsuccessful wells; global commodity pricing fluctuations and supply/demand considerations for oil, gas and chemicals; higher-than-expected costs; political risk; 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.
