Matt DiLallo, The Motley Fool
Sat, May 16, 2026 astatine 2:35 PM CDT 4 min read
A batch has happened with Occidental Petroleum (NYSE: OXY) implicit the past year. The lipid institution sold its chemicals concern and completed its indebtedness simplification plan. Meanwhile, lipid prices person surged owed to the warfare with Iran.
The surge successful lipid prices and the related geopolitical issues successful the Middle East could beryllium big catalysts for the oil stock implicit the adjacent 12 months. Here's what I spot up for Occidental.
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Oil prices could stay elevated into 2027
Oil prices person skyrocketed this year. Brent oil, the planetary benchmark price, has surged astir 80% to astir $110 per barrel. That's good supra the $60 to $70 a tube scope astir successful the lipid manufacture expected this year. Despite that surge successful lipid prices, shares of Occidental Petroleum are lone up astir 30% successful the past year.
The disconnect stems from the market's content that the Strait of Hormuz volition reopen soon and that planetary lipid supplies volition rapidly normalize, driving down crude prices. That view, however, doesn't bespeak the world of the lipid market. Several countries successful the Persian Gulf had to unopen successful wells arsenic above-ground retention terminals reached capacity. Some of those wells volition instrumentality months to restart owed to the clip needed to implicit workovers and repressurize lipid reservoirs. Additionally, the satellite has burned done hundreds of millions of barrels of lipid from inventory, which volition instrumentality months to rebuild. As a result, the lipid marketplace could stay choky good into 2027, keeping lipid prices elevated. I don't deliberation Occidental's existent stock terms reflects this reality.
The changing scenery successful the Middle East
I besides don't deliberation it's a agelong to accidental that the warfare with Iran has changed the geopolitical representation successful the Middle East forever. One illustration is the UAE's determination to permission OPEC. That determination volition escaped the Gulf federation to prosecute its ain lipid policy, including increasing its production. It has the imaginable to boost its capableness to 6 cardinal barrels per time (it produced little than 3.4 cardinal barrels per time earlier the war). The UAE besides fast-tracked a caller pipeline to treble its capableness to bypass the Strait of Hormuz, which it expects to commencement operating adjacent year.
This determination should payment Occidental Petroleum, which has a agelong past of operating successful the UAE. The institution has partnerships with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), including exploration blocks successful the country. It could ramp up its investments to assistance the UAE summation its production. ADNOC is besides evaluating a imaginable concern successful a U.S. c seizure task by Occidental, which could assistance accelerate this business's growth. Occidental's narration with the UAE is an underappreciated semipermanent maturation catalyst for the lipid giant.

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