Weld County’s largest energy producer posts $8.35B loss in Q2

HOUSTON — Occidental Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: OXY) posted a heavy loss of $8.35 billion in the last quarter as the ongoing pandemic strangles off demand for fuel across the world.

The Houston-based company posted revenues of $2.93 billion for the quarter, a near-35% decline from the same period last year, and missed Wall Street consensus estimates by $920 million, according to data from finance site Seeking Alpha.

The majority of the loss came from $6.6 billion in impairment charges, with $5.2 billion applied to a steep drop in the value of its continuing assets and $1.4 billion in write-downs for discontinued drilling and well operations.

Oil and gas operators across the country have been financially hammered as the pandemic and stay-at-home orders through much of the spring reduced the need for fuel to power cars on commutes, planes in the sky and destabilization in transport and freight supply chains.

That sudden and dramatic drop in demand was matched by a production and price war during the two months between Saudi Arabia and Russia, the world’s second and third-largest oil producer nations behind the U.S., further depressing global oil prices.

Occidental is the largest energy operator in Weld County, producing 39.4 million barrels of oil and 282.98 million metric cubic feet last year, according to data from the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.

Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX), which is in the middle of a $5 billion acquisition of Weld County’s second-largest producer Noble Energy Inc. (Nasdaq: NBL), posted a $3 billion loss earlier this month.

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