Occidental Petroleum needs U.S. government financial assistance to the oil industry even as Permian Basin crude's top producer asked Texas regulators not to intervene with market influences.
As a sign of how critical the request is to chief executive Vicki Hollub, workers are encouraged to submit a pre-written bucket list to members of the US Congress.
The business needs, among others, the government to offer liquidity to the energy sector during this time of unparalleled depletion of demand and unsustainable prices until the economy normalizes.
The letter, in reference to an internal email dated April 7 and viewed by Bloomberg News, also urges the Trump administration to hold talks with Saudi Arabia and settle the price war between Saudi and Russia.
Lawmakers were asked to promote equal access to Asian markets for U.S. crude, and to endorse purchasing the commodity for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve of the country. And even as Occidental appealed to the Texas Railroad Commission to oppose State-mandated production cuts, the letters are going out.
It is the company's view that the rise in oil supply combined with the downturn in oil demand would resolve itself without state regulatory intervention, Occidental told the Railroad Commission, adding that required cuts would be "particularly short-sighted" and contradicts with contractual obligations.
The commission is scheduled to conduct a meeting next week to discuss what will be the first curtailments of the state's output in almost 50 years.
In the stock market, Occidental Petroleum wrapped up the latest trading session at $15.35, representing a drop of -1.33 percent from the day before. This move lagged 1.45 percent daily gain for the S&P 500. The Dow has climbed 1.22 percent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq has risen 0.79 percent.
Over the past month, shares of the oil and gas exploration and production company had risen 31.86 percent prior to today's trading. This has outpaced the loss of 17.88 percent for the Oils-Energy market and the loss of 7.42 percent for the S&P 500 at that time.
In January, the share price of Occidental had fallen down to the region of $40, but finished February at $32.74 as the market started to fall because of the coronavirus outbreak.
At last week's end, crude oil bounced back to $29.14, but was trading Thursday afternoon in the $25 range.
To start the rally in Occidental's shares, crude oil futures must go up higher. Much as the rise in crude oil prices has boosted Occidental's share price, a fall in crude oil to its recent low will likely have similar effects on Western shares.
