Occidental Petroleum Corporation reported consolidated earnings results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2011. For the quarter, the company reported net income of $1.6 billion or $2.01 per basic and diluted share compared with the $1.2 billion or $1.49 per basic and diluted share for the fourth quarter of 2010. Core income was $1.6 billion or $2.02 per diluted share for the fourth quarter of 2011, compared with $1.3 billion or $1.58 per diluted share for the fourth quarter of 2010. Net sales were $6.034 million against $5.063 million a year ago. Capital expenditure was $2.549 million against $1.360 million a year ago. Income from continuing operations was $1,641 million or $2.02 per basic and diluted share compared to $1,192 million or $1.47 per basic and diluted share for the same period a year ago. Pretax income from continuing operations was about $2.6 billion, $2.02 per diluted share after tax compared to approximately $2.9 billion, $2.18 per diluted share after tax in the third quarter of 2011. Net income for the twelve months of 2011 was $6.8 billion or $8.32 per basic and diluted share, compared with $4.5 billion or $5.56 per basic and diluted share for the same period in 2010. Core income for the year 2011 exceeded $6.8 billion or $8.39 per diluted share, compared with $4.7 billion or $5.72 per diluted share for the same period in 2010. Net sales were $23.939 million against $19.045 million a year ago. Capital expenditure was $7.518 million against $3.940 million a year ago. The company generated strong financial results with cash flow from operations of $12.3 billion and ROE of 19%. Income from continuing operations was $6,640 million or $8.16 per basic and diluted share compared to $4,569 million or $5.61 per diluted share for the same period a year ago. Total debt, net of cash was $2.1 billion at December 31, 2011, compared to $2.5 billion at December 31, 2010, representing net cash generated by the company of $0.4 billion. The company increased annual dividend by 21% to $1.84 per share. The company expects to announce further dividend increase after the meeting of its board of directors, the second week of February. The company announced it is increasing capital program by about 10% in 2012 to $8.3 billion from the $7.5 billion it spent in 2011. For the fiscal year 2012, the company expects the oil and gas production to be as follows: During the first half of 2012, the company expects domestic production to grow 3,000 to 4,000 BOE a day per month in the current quarterly average of 449,000 BOE a day, which would correspond to a 6,000 to 8,000 BOE a day increase per quarter. If the production growth rate continued at a comparable base in the second half of the year, year-over-year average domestic production growth would be similar between 8% to 10% this year. At current prices, the company expects total first quarter sales volumes to be comparable to fourth quarter 2011 volumes, depending on the scheduling of listings. The $5 change in global oil prices would impact production sharing contract BOE volumes by about 3,000 barrels per day. Additionally, the company expects exploration expense to be about $100 million for seismic and drilling for exploration programs in the first quarter. The company expects combined worldwide tax rate the first quarter of 2012 to increase to about 40%.