Occidental Petroleum Corp's quarterly profit beat Wall Street estimates as the fourth-largest U.S. oil company hacked away at production costs, and it predicted growth of 8 percent to 10 percent in domestic crude output this year.The results boosted the company's shares 3 percent on Thursday to four-month highs.Fourth-quarter costs fell by $1.04 per barrel from the third quarter as Oxy used fewer outside contractors and cut uneconomic maintenance activity, among other things.The cost-cutting program is aimed at reducing U.S. drilling costs by 15 percent in 2013, and the company is about half-way there. Most efforts are in its home state of California, which accounted for 35 percent of fourth-quarter production.
Occidental Petroleum Corporation (Occidental) conducts its operations through various subsidiaries and affiliates. Shares of OXY traded higher by 2.79% or $2.38/share to $87.70. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $72.43 and as high as $106.68. On average, 4755040 shares of OXY exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 8130695.
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