(Adds details on buyout offers, background)
By Devika Krishna Kumar
May 12 (Reuters) - Occidental Petroleum Corp is
offering its employees voluntary buyouts over the next two
weeks, according to a document seen by Reuters on Tuesday,
citing the sharp decline in oil prices and the coronavirus
pandemic for "severe dislocations" in its business.
The Houston-based company last week posted a $2 billion
quarterly loss and has slashed capital spending drastically to
shore up its balance sheet amid the worst oil-and-gas-industry
downturn in 40 years. Occidental said that if spending cuts are
not met, it will have "serious potential consequences" to the
company, the document said.
Energy companies worldwide, including Exxon Mobil Corp
and Royal Dutch Shell PLC, have slashed capital
expenditures and oil output to reckon with the collapse in fuel
demand due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Interested employees can submit a resignation offer to
Occidental through May 26, specifying the number of months of
base salary that they will accept for voluntary separation,
according to the document. Employees can amend or withdraw
offers unless the company has already accepted them by then, the
document said. Offers not accepted will expire automatically on
June 12.
Occidental declined to comment.
Occidental has been swiftly cutting expenses to deal with
its debt-laden balance sheet following the collapse in oil
prices. The company took on a heavy debt load in order to buy
Anadarko Petroleum last year for $38 billion, a bet on continued
growth of U.S. shale oil production.
It cut its 2020 capex budget on three separate occasions
this year, most recently to $2.5 billion from an original plan
of $5.3 billion.
(Reporting by Devika Krishna Kumar in New York; Editing by
Sandra Maler and Leslie Adler)
