Occidental Petroleum Corp said it would spin off its oil and gas assets in California into a separately traded company and move its headquarters from Los Angeles to Houston, where it will be closer to its largest U.S. operations.Occidental did not provide a valuation for the California business, but analysts at investment bank Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co said it could be worth up to $19 billion. Analysts at Credit Suisse valued the unit at about $22 billion in October."Creating two separate energy companies will result in more focused businesses that will be competitive industry leaders," Chief Executive Stephen Chazen said on Friday.Occidental, whose shares were up 3 percent at midday, said the California unit generated a pre-tax profit of about $1.5 billion in 2013.
Occidental Petroleum Corporation (Occidental) conducts its operations through various subsidiaries and affiliates. Shares of OXY traded higher by 3.48% or $3.21/share to $95.48. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $77.21 and as high as $99.42. On average, 3844620 shares of OXY exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 4754369.
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