LOS ANGELES, Feb. 15, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) announced today that its Board of Directors increased the number of shares authorized for the previously announced share repurchase program from 40 million shares to 55 million shares. Approximately 31.6 million shares have been repurchased through January 31, 2007, leaving 23.4 million shares to be repurchased from time to time in the open market or otherwise. The share repurchases will continue to be funded solely from available cash from operations.
Statements in this release 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. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements which speak only as of the date of this filing. Unless legally required, Occidental does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. U.S. investors are urged to consider carefully the disclosure in Occidental's Form 10-K, available through the following toll-free telephone number, 1-888-OXYPETE (1-888-699-7383) or on the Internet at http://www.oxy.com. You also can obtain a copy from the SEC by calling 1-800-SEC-0330.