• Occidental Petroleum recently agreed to sell its chemical business to Berkshire Hathaway for US$9.70 billion, aiming to pay down acquisition-related debt and refocus on its core oil and gas operations.

• This move, combined with market speculation about a possible near-term dividend increase, highlights management’s emphasis on balance sheet repair and cash returns to shareholders.

• We’ll now examine how the planned chemical business sale to Berkshire Hathaway could reshape Occidental Petroleum’s investment narrative and cash priorities.

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To own Occidental today, you need to believe that refocusing on core oil and gas, while steadily repairing the balance sheet, can offset recent earnings pressure and sector uncertainty. The planned US$9.70 billion sale of the chemical business to Berkshire Hathaway directly supports the key short term catalyst of debt reduction, but it also heightens exposure to commodity price swings, which remain the biggest ongoing risk.

Against this backdrop, recent speculation about a potential near term dividend increase sits alongside an already rising payout, with the quarterly dividend moving from US$0.22 to US$0.24 per share since mid 2024. Taken together with the asset sale, this raises an important question about how much cash flow will ultimately be directed to shareholders versus further strengthening the balance sheet.

Yet behind these moves, investors should also be aware that…

Read the full narrative on Occidental Petroleum (it’s free!)

Occidental Petroleum’s narrative projects $29.0 billion in revenue and $3.7 billion in earnings by 2028.

Uncover how Occidental Petroleum’s forecasts yield a $49.92 fair value, a 25% upside to its current price.

Twenty nine members of the Simply Wall St Community currently see OXY’s fair value between US$31.19 and US$104.50, spanning a very wide set of expectations. Against that backdrop, the planned chemical sale and increased reliance on oil and gas cash flows may amplify how differently you and other investors view Occidental’s future performance.

Explore 29 other fair value estimates on Occidental Petroleum – why the stock might be worth 22% less than the current price!

Disagree with existing narratives? Create your own in under 3 minutes – extraordinary investment returns rarely come from following the herd.

• A great starting point for your Occidental Petroleum research is our analysis highlighting 1 key reward and 5 important warning signs that could impact your investment decision.

• Our free Occidental Petroleum research report provides a comprehensive fundamental analysis summarized in a single visual – the Snowflake – making it easy to evaluate Occidental Petroleum’s overall financial health at a glance.