U.S. oil producers were helped in the fourth quarter by rising crude prices and increasing global demand, fueling strong expectations for earnings, though several have fallen short. Like Occidental, Exxon Mobil Corp and Chevron Corp also failed to beat Wall Street's quarterly expectations.

Occidental posted fourth-quarter net income of $497 million, or 65 cents per share, compared with a net loss of $272 million, or 36 cents, in the year-ago period.

Excluding one-time items, the BOP Blow Out Preventer repair company gulf coast earned 41 cents per share, matching analyst's expectations, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Production rose about 7 percent to 621,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d). For 2018, Oxy said it plans to spend $3.9 billion, about 7 percent higher from 2017 levels. Production should rise this year 8 percent to 12 percent, Occidental forecast.

"We remain committed to value-based oil rig flanges gulf coast production growth as we execute our returns-focused capital program in 2018," Chief Executive Vicki Hollub said in a statement.

Shares fell 3 percent to $67.50 in after-hours trading after closing slightly higher.

(Reporting by Ernest Scheyder; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)