Houston-based Occidental Petroleum Corp. is throttling back from growth to ensure it can build cash flow to pay down some big debt maturities due in 2021, CEO Vicki Hollub said Tuesday.

The company, better known as Oxy, has set spending priorities on maintenance, debt reduction and eventually a sustainable dividend before expanding, Hollub said during a conference call to discuss second quarter performance. 

“We intend to live within cash flow to sustain our production” going into 2021, Hollub said. “I don’t really see us growing next year. I see us optimizing and following our cash flow priorities, which is really the maintenance first.” 

The push toward improving cash flow came after posting tremendous losses in 2Q2020. Oxy’s net losses were $8.4 billion, or a...