(Reuters) – Occidental Petroleum will not grow production until it “significantly” reduces debt, Chief Executive Vicki Hollub said on Tuesday.
The company has been struggling with debt taken on during its $38 billion acquisition of Anadarko Petroleum last year, an ill-timed bet on oil prices rising.
Occidental is restarting some activity in the Permian Basin and Gulf of Mexico, but its focus is to “ensure that we have the liquidity to go forward so we have the ability to meet our maturities,” Hollub said on a call with analysts.
The company has returned to the market most of the barrels it curtailed during the spring oil price crash, Hollub said.
It had 47,000 barrels of daily production curtailed in May at the peak, and averaged 29,000 barrels in the second quarter average.
In the third quarter, it is likely to have about 20,000 barrels per day curtailed due to OPEC+ cuts, the company said.
(Reporting by Jennifer Hiller in Houston; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
