Occidental Petroleum Corp Chief Executive Stephen Chazen quipped on Thursday that his larger rival Chevron Corp was too poor to purchase the No. 4 U.S oil producer, but the offhand remark sent Oxy's stock up anyway. During a conference call to discuss the company's fourth-quarter results, an analyst asked Chazen if his company was on the market.The question was to be expected. With oil prices down by half since June and profits slipping, bankers are readying for a wave of mergers and acquisitions that can be made on the cheap."Have you considered selling Oxy?" Wolfe Research's Paul Sankey said.
Occidental Petroleum Corporation (Occidental) is an oil and gas exploration and production company with its operations in the United States, Middle East/North Africa and Latin America. Shares of OXY traded higher by 2.37% or $1.81/share to $78.31. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $72.32 and as high as $101.38. On average, 6417790 shares of OXY exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 6297312.
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