Clock ticking for Oxy

Producer in race against time to generate funds needed to pay down mounting debts

US independent Occidental Petroleum looked well-placed to tackle its hefty debt load at the start of the year, with strong capital efficiency, $6bn in completed asset sales and significant cost-cutting in place. The negative investor sentiment surrounding the $25.5bn acquisition of its peer Anadarko Petroleum was finally starting to fade. But the oil price collapse and the demand destruction triggered by Covid-19 has torn up everyone’s best-laid plans and revived fresh concerns that Oxy could fail to meet its huge looming debt maturities. The company faces $11bn in payments for the period 2021-23. $11bn – Debt maturities Capex and other non-essential outlay have been hacked back to s