Occidental CEO talks CrownRock acquisition: 'It gives us more scale and cash flow'

As CERAWeek by S&P Global — an annual global energy conference focusing on the industry's biggest goals and challenges — kicks off today, Occidental Petroleum (OXY) CEO Vicki Hollub joins Yahoo Finance's Julie Hyman to discuss the company's goals after acquiring CrownRock in December 2023.
Hollub emphasizes that Occidental Petroleum's "large position" in the Delaware Basin allowed the oil giant to achieve "efficiencies" of scale while expanding to other drill sites. She further notes that CrownRock's inventory "helps to improve" Oxy's own, and this synergy helps to accelerate cash flow generation, which she describes as "an acceleration of value" for shareholders. In the near term, the company is focusing on paying down debt and eventually resume repurchasing shares.
She highlights that the company has maintained "a very healthy repurchase program" due to the stock being "very undervalued."
Regarding Oxy's carbon emission initiatives, Hollub stresses the company's familiarity with the gas, stating: "We know how CO2 works." She underlines Occidental Petroleum's existing infrastructure for handling carbon dioxide emissions and the "difficult process" involved in convincing sites to install carbon capture equipment. However, Hollub notes that the carbon engineering technology, which allows the extraction of carbon from the atmosphere, was "a holy grail" for Occidental. This technology empowers the company to "control our own destiny" by bypassing the need for emitters.

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