FAIR VALUE MEASUREMENTS

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2021


NOTE 9 - FAIR VALUE MEASUREMENTS

FAIR VALUES – RECURRING

In January 2012, Occidental entered into a long-term contract to purchase CO2. This contract contained a price adjustment clause that was not clearly and closely related to the host contract and Occidental accounted for it at fair value in the consolidated financial statements. In December 2021, the price adjustment clause related to the contract expired and no longer is recognized at fair value.

FAIR VALUES – NONRECURRING

2021:

For the year ended December 31, 2021, Occidental recorded pre-tax impairments of $276 million related to undeveloped leases that either expired or were set to expire in the near-term, where Occidental had no plans to pursue exploration activities.

2020:

The table below summarizes the significant impairments and other charges incurred to measure assets to their fair value on a nonrecurring basis throughout the year ended December 31, 2020:


millions	Total Fair Value
Asset impairments and other charges
Goodwill	$	1,153
Oil and gas properties - proved	$	2,436
Oil and gas properties - unproved	$	4,591
Oil and gas properties - discontinued operations	$	2,191
WES equity investment	$	2,673

GOODWILL

In the first quarter of 2020, Occidental impaired $1.2 billion in goodwill related to Occidental’s ownership in WES, which was previously included in long-term receivables and other assets, net. The market value of WES’ publicly traded units is considered a Level 1 input.

OIL AND GAS PROPERTIES

In the second quarter of 2020, as a result of the expected prolonged period of lower commodity prices brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on oil demand, Occidental tested substantially all of its oil and gas assets for impairment. Occidental recognized total pre-tax impairments to its oil and gas proved and unproved properties of $8.6 billion, of which $6.4 billion was included in oil and gas segment results and $2.2 billion ($1.4 billion net of tax) related to Ghana was included in discontinued operations.

In the second quarter of 2020, Occidental recorded proved property pre-tax impairments of $1.2 billion primarily related to certain assets for its domestic onshore and Gulf of Mexico assets and $0.9 billion to adjust the Algeria oil and gas proved properties to their fair value. The fair value of the proved properties was measured based on the income approach.

Unproved property pre-tax impairments of $4.3 billion were primarily related to domestic onshore unproved acreage. The fair value of this acreage was measured based on a market approach using an implied acreage valuation derived from domestic onshore market participants excluding the fair value assigned to proved properties.

Income approaches are considered Level 3 fair value estimates and include significant assumptions of future production and timing of production, commodity price assumptions and operating and capital cost estimates, discounted using a 10 percent weighted average cost of capital. Taxes were based on current statutory rates. Future production and timing of production is based on internal reserves estimates and internal economic models for a specific oil and gas asset. Internal reserve estimates consist of proved reserves and unproved reserves, the latter adjusted for uncertainty based on reserve category. Price assumptions were based on a combination of market information and published industry resources adjusted for historical differentials. Price assumptions ranged from approximately $40 per barrel of oil in 2020 increasing to approximately $70 per barrel of oil in 2034, with an unweighted arithmetic average price of $59.17 and $62.42 for WTI and Brent indexed assets for the 15 year period, respectively. Natural gas prices ranged from approximately $2.00 per Mcf in 2020 to approximately $3.60 per Mcf in 2034, with an unweighted arithmetic average price of $3.13 for NYMEX based assets for the 15 year period. Both oil and natural gas commodity prices were held flat after 2034 and were adjusted for location and quality differentials. Operating and capital cost estimates were based on current observable costs and were further escalated 1 percent in every period where commodity prices exceeded $50 per barrel and 2 percent in every period where commodity prices exceeded $60 per barrel. The weighted average cost of capital is calculated based on industry peers and best approximates the cost of capital an external market participant would expect to obtain.

In the first quarter of 2020, Occidental's oil and gas segment recognized pre-tax impairment and related charges of $581 million primarily related to both proved and unproved oil and gas properties and a lower of cost or net realizable value adjustment for crude inventory. Occidental recorded proved property impairments of $293 million related to certain international assets and the Gulf of Mexico. Occidental recorded unproved property impairments, of approximately $241 million, primarily related to domestic onshore undeveloped leases and offshore Gulf of Mexico where Occidental no longer intends to pursue exploration, appraisal or development activities primarily due to the reduction in near-term capital plans.

If there is an adverse downturn of the macroeconomic conditions and if such downturn is expected to or does persist for a prolonged period of time, Occidental’s oil and gas properties may be subject to further testing for impairment, which could result in additional non-cash asset impairments. Such impairments could be material to the financial statements.

WES EQUITY INVESTMENT

At the end of the third quarter of 2020, Occidental recorded an other-than-temporary impairment of $2.7 billion, as the fair value of Occidental’s investment in WES had remained significantly lower than its book value for the majority of the nine months ended September 30, 2020. Occidental concluded that the difference between the fair value and book value of WES was not temporary, primarily given both the magnitude and the duration that the fair value was below its book value. This other-than-temporary impairment was calculated based on the closing market price of WES as of September 30, 2020. The market value of WES’ publicly traded common units is considered a Level 1 input.

FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS FAIR VALUE

The carrying amounts of cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash, restricted cash equivalents and other on-balance sheet financial instruments, other than fixed-rate debt, approximate fair value. See Note 6 - Long-Term Debt for the fair value of long-term debt.

- Definition

The entire disclosure for the fair value of financial instruments (as defined), including financial assets and financial liabilities (collectively, as defined), and the measurements of those instruments as well as disclosures related to the fair value of non-financial assets and liabilities. Such disclosures about the financial instruments, assets, and liabilities would include: (1) the fair value of the required items together with their carrying amounts (as appropriate); (2) for items for which it is not practicable to estimate fair value, disclosure would include: (a) information pertinent to estimating fair value (including, carrying amount, effective interest rate, and maturity, and (b) the reasons why it is not practicable to estimate fair value; (3) significant concentrations of credit risk including: (a) information about the activity, region, or economic characteristics identifying a concentration, (b) the maximum amount of loss the entity is exposed to based on the gross fair value of the related item, (c) policy for requiring collateral or other security and information as to accessing such collateral or security, and (d) the nature and brief description of such collateral or security; (4) quantitative information about market risks and how such risks are managed; (5) for items measured on both a recurring and nonrecurring basis information regarding the inputs used to develop the fair value measurement; and (6) for items presented in the financial statement for which fair value measurement is elected: (a) information necessary to understand the reasons for the election, (b) discussion of the effect of fair value changes on earnings, (c) a description of [similar groups] items for which the election is made and the relation thereof to the balance sheet, the aggregate carrying value of items included in the balance sheet that are not eligible for the election; (7) all other required (as defined) and desired information.

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