Occidental Petroleum Corp. posted a bigger-than-expected quarterly loss on Nov. 9, as it reeled from a plunge in crude prices due to the COVID-19 crisis, sending the oil and gas producer's shares 5% lower in extended trading.

The Houston-based company has been forced to slash jobs, production and the value of its assets after the pandemic hammered energy demand, piling pressure on a company that had taken on significant debt to acquire Anadarko Petroleum for $38 billion last year.

UPDATE:

Occidental Petroleum Caps 2021 Spending as COVID-19 Hits Prices

Occidental, which announced in June it would restructure some debt to avoid a possible default, said its total long-term net debt stood at $35.9 billion at September-end, slightly lower than $36.03 billion at the end of June.

The average price for the company's crude oil plunged about 31.5% to $38.67 per barrel in the third quarter, while worldwide production from continuing operations rose 11.2% to 1.24 million boe/d.

Occidental said it expects production in the current quarter to be between 1.1 million boe/d and 1.16 boe/d, and reiterated its full-year spending plan of $2.4 billion to $2.6 billion.

The company said it was adding four drilling rigs back to the Permian Basin, spread across Texas and New Mexico, and would have seven by year-end.

Net loss attributable to stockholders widened to $3.8 billion, or $4.07 cents per share, in the third quarter, from $912 million, or $1.08 cents per share, a year earlier.

The results included a one-time charge of about $2.4 billion related to its investment in Western Midstream Partners LP and $700 million of losses for some divestitures.

On an adjusted basis, it lost 84 cents per share, while analysts had expected a 72 cent loss, Refinitiv IBES data showed.