LOS ANGELES, July 20, 2000, (PRIMEZONE) -- Occidental Petroleum Corporation said today that it has agreed to two transactions with Apache Corporation involving Occidental's interests in proved reserves of about 50 million barrels of oil equivalent in the Continental Shelf of the Gulf of Mexico. These transactions will generate proceeds of $341 million this year and additional proceeds of $11 million per year for the next four years -- for a total consideration of $385 million.
Dr. Ray R. Irani, chairman and chief executive officer of Occidental, said, "Earlier this year, we set a target to reduce total debt by $2 billion by year-end. With the addition of the proceeds from these two transactions, we will have generated a total of $1.8 billion for debt reduction from assets sales and internal sources. We expect to accomplish all our debt-reduction goals this year and maintain the momentum of our debt-reduction programs into 2001."
In one transaction, Occidental agreed to sell its share of gas production of a wholly owned subsidiary holding its Gulf of Mexico shelf assets for approximately $280 million. In a separate transaction, Occidental also agreed to sell an interest in that subsidiary for approximately $61 million, with an option to purchase additional interests for $44 million.
As a result of these two transactions, which are expected to close August 15, Occidental will record a pretax gain of approximately $65 million. Lehman Brothers acted as advisor to Occidental.
Note: This press release may contain forward-looking statements which reflect management's expectations and are based upon data available at the time the statements were made. Actual results are subject to future events and uncertainties, which could materially impact performance.