Occidental Petroleum Stock Rocketed 38% in 2026 (But the Big Move Came in March)

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE: OXY), besides known arsenic Oxy, has seen its banal rally astir 38% twelvemonth to date. Most of those gains came from its 22% summation successful March. Let's spot wherefore the lipid and state company's banal attracted a stampede of bulls, and if it's inactive worthy buying today.

Oxy is chiefly an upstream company, which handles the exploration, drilling, and extraction of lipid and earthy gas. It besides owns a smaller midstream concern that handles the pipelines and infrastructure for transporting those resources, arsenic good arsenic a low-carbon ventures business.

In 2019, Oxy acquired Anadarko, different upstream and midstream company, for $55 billion. It closed that acquisition conscionable earlier lipid prices plummeted during the pandemic, and its indebtedness levels soared. As a result, Oxy's banal sank to its lowest levels successful implicit 2 decades.

To offset that pressure, Oxy restructured its business, reduced its debt, and repurchased much shares to boost its EPS. However, its upstream concern inactive needs lipid prices to emergence truthful its gross maturation tin outpace its expenses. Unfortunately, the terms of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude lipid -- which Oxy is heavy babelike connected -- declined by 20% successful 2024 and 2025. During those 2 years, Oxy's banal declined 31% arsenic the S&P 500 roseate 44%.

Three catalysts drove Oxy's banal higher this year. First, it closed the merchantability of its chemic business, OxyChem, to Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRKA) (NYSE: BRKB), its apical investor, for $9.7 cardinal successful currency successful January. It instantly utilized those proceeds to trim indebtedness by $5.8 billion, bringing it to its people indebtedness level of astir $15 billion.

Second, the terms of WTI crude lipid soared 76% twelvemonth to day to astir $100 per tube -- good supra its breakeven terms of astir $60 per barrel. Most of those gains occurred aft the U.S. and Israel launched airstrikes against Iran astatine the extremity of February, triggering a determination warfare and blockades of the Strait of Hormuz -- which handles astir 25% of the world's maritime lipid trade.

If lipid prices stay astatine these levels oregon emergence further, Oxy volition make adjacent much currency to trim its debt, bargain backmost much shares, and summation accumulation successful the Permian Basin and the Gulf of Mexico. That mightiness beryllium wherefore Oxy's insiders bought astir 3 times arsenic galore shares arsenic they sold implicit the past year, and wherefore Berkshire bought adjacent much shares implicit the past 3 years.