What impacted OXY's earnings performance this year?

Occidental Petroleum's (OXY) earnings performance in 2024 was impacted by several key factors:

1. **Environmental Liability Increase**: The most significant impact came from an increase in long-term environmental remediation liability, which led to a reported loss of $0.32 per diluted share in Q4 2024. This liability increase was due to a recent federal court ruling, and Occidental has appealed the ruling.
2. **Oil Price Volatility**: The company's exposure to volatile global markets and fluctuations in demand and commodity prices also affected its earnings. Despite record-breaking oil production in the United States, hitting 1.33 million barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2024, the top line decreased 9.2% year over year due to lower contributions from its Chemical and Midstream & Marketing segments.
3. **Challenges in Chemical and Midstream Segments**: The Chemical segment revenues decreased by 1.2% year over year, while the Midstream & Marketing segment revenues plunged 77.7% year over year. This indicates that these segments faced specific challenges that impacted their financial performance.
4. **Debt Repayment and Financial Management**: On the positive side, Occidental demonstrated strong financial management by reaching its near-term debt repayment target of $4.5 billion seven months ahead of schedule. This shows that while the company was impacted by certain factors, it was also actively managing its finances and debt.

In conclusion, Occidental Petroleum's 2024 earnings performance was impacted by a combination of factors including environmental liability increase, oil price volatility, challenges in Chemical and Midstream segments, and debt repayment.