Occidental Petroleum
works on numerous projects each year.
Occidental Petroleum Corp. has projects in the United States, Middle East, North Africa and Latin America. It is the fourth-largest U.S. oil and gas company. Occidental's chemical company, OxyChem, manufactures chlor-alkali products and vinyls. Occidental's projects are focused on oil and gas recovery and projects it thinks will be environmentally beneficial.
California Shale Project
Although it has kept a low profile regarding its California shale project in Kern County, Occidental started looking for hydrocarbon-rich shale in 1998 and undertook a four-year development program for shale production in 2010. It also has shale projects in Texas and North Dakota. The company thinks California may be richer in hydrocarbons than many of the better known project locations.
In 2010, Occidental was producing 40,000 barrels of oil equivalent, or BOE, per day in shale assets. The company owns 870,000 acres in California that it says has a strong potential for shale hydrocarbons and a 3D seismic project it is using to identify them.
Dolphin Project
Occidental Petroleum partnered with Dolphin Energy Limited of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, in the Dolphin Project, which delivers natural gas from Qatar's North Field to its customers in UAE and Oman. Oxy has a 24.5 percent interest in the project. The North Field is one of the largest gas reservoirs in the world. Dolphin began production in 2007. The gas is produced offshore and processed at a plant in Ras Laffan, Qatar. It produces 2 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day.
Carbon Dioxide Sequestration
Before regulatory action regarding greenhouse gas emissions, Occidental Petroleum began a carbon dioxide sequestration program meant to control GHG emissions. Using technology it thinks has the potential to reduce these gases, it hopes to promote carbon sequestration in oil and gas reservoirs. The company injected about 550 billion cubic feet of CO2, which would have gone into the atmosphere, in 2009. The company thinks production could be increased through the CO2 flooding process.
Sirte Basin Project
Occidental Petroleum signed a 30-year agreement in 2007 with the Libyan National Oil Corp. to design and implement field redevelopment and exploration programs in the Sirte Basin. The project's goal is to increase the field's assets to more than 300,000 barrels per day; its production at the start of the project was 100,000 barrels per day. The contract provided a $1 billion sign-on bonus payable over three years, which reflects Oxy's commitment to the project. Oxy partnered in the project with an Austrian oil and gas company, OMV, which has 25 percent interest, with Oxy retaining 75 percent.
Tags: Occidental Petroleum, billion cubic, billion cubic feet, company thinks, cubic feet, Dolphin Project, North Field
