Occidental Petroleum Corp ( OXY.N ) is exploring a sale of its pipeline assets, hoping to fetch more than $5 billion and free up capital to invest in exploration and production as oil prices rebound, people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday. Occidental’s decision to shed the assets is the latest example of an oil company balking at the capital expenditure required to maintain U.S. pipelines, which have been plagued by bottlenecks and require construction of new networks. Hess Corp ( HES.N ) and Oasis Petroleum Inc ( OAS.N ) are among the companies that have sold or spun off pipelines in the past year, looking to take advantage of high valuations for these assets, which have been buoyed by the capacity constrains. Inability to transport enough oil out of […]