Occidental Petroleum (OXY) Stock Closed in the Green Today on Higher Oil Prices

Occidental Petroleum (OXY) stock rose on Friday as both WTI and Brent crude turned positive amid a weaker U.S. dollar.

By Kurumi Fukushima , Mar 20, 2015 4:57 PM EDT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Occidental Petroleum (OXY) - Get Report closed up 1.18% to $72.72 on heavy volume in Friday's regular trading session, as U.S. crude rallied to settle higher by 4% to $45.72 a barrel in pit trading today, marking its largest daily gain since Feb. 12, according to Reuters.

Brent crude futures for May delivery is up 1.3% to $55.14 a barrel as of 4:42 p.m. ET today.

Oil prices turned positive following German Chancellor Angela Merkel's upbeat comments about Greece earlier today, giving the euro a boost against the dollar, Reuters added.

The weakness in the U.S. dollar makes oil more attractive, causing the rally in oil prices, Reuters noted.

Shares of Occidental Petroleum are up further by 0.06% to $72.76 in after-hours trading today.

About 13.09 million shares of Occidental Petroleum have exchanged hands as of 4:49 p.m ET, compared to its average trading volume of about 4.51 million shares a day.

Houston, TX-based Occidental conducts its operations through various subsidiaries and affiliates. The company operates in three segments including oil and gas, chemical, and midstream, marketing and other.

Insight from TheStreet's Research Team:

Gary Berman commented on Occidental Petroleum in a recent post on RealMoneyPro.com. Here is what Berman had to say about the stock:

After watching some great basketball games this weekend, we still had time to review our long-term oversold list of stocks. Today let's review Occidental Petroleum (OXY), which generated a long-term oversold condition.
Occidental shares gapped lower Friday, thus it also gave us a Day 1 of our 3-Day rule. With the Friday (Day 1) close at $72.84, we need to be aware when OXY closes above that level.
On Feb. 13, OXY gapped higher and sellers were nowhere to be found. Were you looking for OXY to trade lower? On Feb. 17, OXY made a lower high and the slide began. Now OXY is approaching support, with the Dec. 16 low at $72.32. Using the Dec. 16 low at $72.32 and the Feb. 13 high at $83.74, OXY has our "overshoot level" of $69.62 for further long-term support.
Long-term buyers can buy here, with a close below $69.62 as an exit. With a close above $72.84 look to add to a long position. Look to buy more on a close above $73.96 in coming days. I will follow up with OXY bounce levels via Columnist Conversations once the short-term bottom can be confirmed.