Occidental Petroleum’s ERJ-175 lands in Midland as oil prices slide below $70 per barrel

Occidental Petroleum's Embraer ERJ-175, tail N170XY, was tracked flying from Lea County-Jal Airport in New Mexico to Midland International Air and Space Port in Texas on Thursday, a 26-minute hop across the Permian Basin.

If Occidental Petroleum officials were aboard, they would have arrived the same week WTI crude extended its decline to around $69 per barrel — down more than 22% from the March high — as shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz normalizes and Iran oil waivers boost supply, per FXStreet. The stock has fallen to about $50, with analysts at TIKR.com noting the selloff looks like an opportunity if free-cash-flow remains resilient.

The ERJ-175 is primarily used as an employee shuttle for Occidental Petroleum's sprawling Permian operations. The flight from Lea County, home to the company's Jal-area assets, to Midland, a key operations hub, is a routine intra-basin movement that keeps field teams and executives connected to the company's core producing region.