Occidental Petroleum Corporation ( OXY )  now expects to close the acquisition of shale oil producer CrownRock LP by the third quarter of FY24.

In December 2023, the company inked a purchase deal for cash and stock in a transaction valued at about $12.0 billion. At that time, Occidental expected the deal to close in the first quarter of 2024.

In the first-quarter FY24 conference call, CEO Vicki Hollub said, “The company is answering a second request for information on the acquisition by U.S. regulators and does not anticipate any impediments,” reported Reuters.

In the call, onshore operations executive Richard Jackson stated that, excluding the acquisition, the company plans to increase oil production in the Permian Basin from current operations by 18,000 barrels per day in the second half of 2024 while reducing rigs.

Yesterday, Occidental reported Q1 adjusted EPS of $0.63, beating the consensus of $0.60, while sales of $6.01 billion were missing the estimate of $6.70 billion.

Investors can gain exposure to the stock via Texas Capital Funds Trust Texas Capital Texas Oil Index ETF and First Trust Nasdaq Oil & Gas ETF ( FTXN ) .

Price Action: OXY shares are up 0.38% at $63.92 premarket at the last check Thursday.