Occidental Petroleum said Wednesday first quarter production was up 13 percent year-on-year in part because of output from the Permian shale in Texas. Occidental, known by its ticker symbol Oxy, said first quarter production rose year-on-year by 72,000 barrels of oil equivalent. “The increase was led by Permian resources which delivered a 46-percent increase to 98,000 boe per day, of which oil production grew by 25,000 barrels a day,” President and Chief Executive Officer Stephen Chazen said in a statement Texas is the No. 1 oil producer in the nation. The Railroad Commission of Texas, the state’s energy regulator, said preliminary data from February show crude oil production averaged 2.34 million barrels per day. That’s an increase of 5.2 percent , or 117,550 […]