HOUSTON, May 5 (UPI) -- U.S. energy company Occidental Petroleum said Monday its domestic oil production increased 3.7 percent from the same time last year.
Occidental said its oil and gas business generated $2.1 billion in earnings during the first quarter of 2014, compared with $1.9 billion during first quarter 2013.
"We continued to focus on our domestic production growth strategy, growing our oil production to 274,000 barrels per day," President and CEO Stephen Chazen said in a statement. "This was an increase of 10,000 barrels per day on a year-over-year basis and 4,000 barrels per day on a quarter-over-quarter basis."
Occidental, commonly referred to as Oxy, credited its strong performance with higher oil and natural gas prices.
In the Middle East and North African sector, the company said its production declined 14,000 barrels of oil per day compared with the same time last year because of port strikes in Libya and insurgent activity in Yemen.
