Occidental Issues Statement Regarding Santo Domingo, Colombia Lawsuit

LOS ANGELES, April 24, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- Occidental Petroleum
Corporation (NYSE:OXY) issued the following statement: We learned from
media reports that a complaint had been filed against Occidental in U.S.
District Court, Central District of California, relating to the loss of
civilian lives during a military action in Santo Domingo, Colombia, in
December 1998. We also received a statement announcing that the
plaintiff in this action would be holding a press conference with former
State Senator Tom Hayden outside our Annual Stockholders' Meeting on
April 25.

While we have not had an opportunity to study the complaint, we believe
that any suggestion that Occidental Petroleum was responsible in any way
for the Santo Domingo tragedy resulting from military action involving
Colombian armed forces and elements of the terrorist group known by its
Spanish acronym, FARC, is completely false. Occidental has not and does
not provide lethal aid to Colombia's armed forces.

Occidental will vigorously contest any allegation that it is responsible
for the Santo Domingo tragedy or any other incident involving Colombia's
military operations. In fact, Occidental and its Colombian employees
have been routinely victimized by armed terrorist groups that were
operating, and continue to operate, in the vicinity of Santo Domingo and
throughout the state of Arauca. Last December, armed terrorists were
responsible for the deaths of four employees of an Occidental contractor
and the wounding of fifteen others when they detonated a bomb that
destroyed a commuter bus that was returning the workers to their homes
at the end of a work day at the Cano Limon oil field operated by
Occidental.

We understand that Colombian court proceedings relating to the events
surrounding the civilian deaths in Santo Domingo are ongoing. Occidental
is not a target of these proceedings.

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CONTACT: Occidental Petroleum Corporation
Lawrence P. Meriage (media)
(310) 443-6562
www.oxy.com