Forestry

Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA) of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, continuing his drive to impose more accountability into the financial market, has introduced a bill to establish stronger standards of openness, transparency and integrity in the trading of swaps and other over-the-counter financial derivatives by bringing them all into the regulatory fold.

Abandoned chemical engineering projects, an exit from its forestry business and other asset impairments pushed Oklahoma City-based independent Kerr-McGee Corp. to a loss in the fourth quarter of 2002. For Occidental Petroleum Corp., however, strong production volumes and higher commodity prices helped the Los Angeles-based independent move into the black for the quarter.