exploration

Exploration well in Yemen

From arid Middle Eastern deserts to dense Latin American jungles and Andean flood plains, Occidental's geoscientists have discovered more than 12 billion barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) - a record unmatched by any other company our size.

Our exploration success includes the discovery of five of the world's 50 largest oil fields discovered in the past 35 years, each of which exceeds one billion barrels of reserves.

Within the past decade, we have also discovered three major natural gas fields, each containing more than three trillion cubic feet of reserves.

Along with the petroleum industry in general, Occidental has transformed itself into a high-technology company, responding to the challenge of finding new prospects to help keep up with the ever-increasing demand for reliable oil and natural gas supplies. Using advanced technology, our explorationists interpret geological and geophysical data more quickly and accurately, resulting in fewer dry holes, lower drilling costs, safer work environments and less impact on the environment.

Ongoing technical advances have also made finding and extracting recoverable oil and gas resources possible in the most challenging geologic formations, remote terrain and sensitive environments. High-speed computing, 3-D seismic geologic interpretation and visualization technologies are powerful new tools that aid the interpretation of complex geological data to identify attractive exploration prospects while keeping costs down.

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