HOUSTON (AP) - Oil producer Occidental Petroleum Corp. said Thursday its second-quarter profit rose 62 percent, as record crude prices and higher production boosted results.

The Los Angeles-based company earned a record $2.29 billion, or $2.78 per share, in the April-June period, compared with $1.41 billion, or $1.68 per share, in the year-ago quarter.

The company said revenue jumped 61 percent to $7.12 billion from $4.41 billion a year ago.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial on average expected earnings of $2.75 per share on sales of $6.77 billion in the most recent quarter.

Occidental said earnings at its oil and gas arm shot to $3.81 billion from $1.66 billion a year ago, lifted by record crude prices, higher natural gas prices and increased production.

Daily oil and gas production averaged 588,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day in the second quarter, up from 558,000 barrels a day a year ago.

Occidental said its realized price for crude oil in the second quarter was $110.12 a barrel, nearly double the price last year. Its domestic natural gas price rose to $9.99 per 1,000 cubic feet from $7.07 per 1,000 cubic feet in the second quarter of 2007.

For the first six months of 2008, Occidental's earnings grew to $4.14 billion, or $5.01 a share, from $2.62 billion, or $3.11 a share, a year ago.

Sales increased to $13.13 billion from $8.42 billion.

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