Chevron Profits Surge On Output Gains
US oil and gas multinational Chevron has reported a 26% growth in quarterly profits on the back of record production.
Net income totalled $4.3bn in the three months ending June 30, up from $3.4bn a year earlier, the company said on August 2, as oil and gas output soared 9.1% yr/yr, reaching a new quarterly record of 3.08mn boe/day.
Upstream earnings shot up to $3.48bn, from $3.3bn, supported not only by production growth but a $740mn payment relating to its rejected bid to buy Texas-based Anadarko Petroleum. It also chalked up a $180mn non-cash benefit from a cut in corporate income tax in Alberta, Canada.
These factors counteracted the impact of weaker oil and gas prices in the period, as well as a decline in downstream earnings from $838mn to $729mn caused by poor margins and reduced equity income from the company’s 50%-owned Chevron Phillips Chemical.
“Our strong financial and operational results reflect consistent execution, allowing us to pay our dividend fund our attractive capital programme, further strengthen our balance sheet and return surplus cash to our shareholders,” Chevron chairman Michael Wirth said.
Chevron’s US oil and gas extraction rose by 159,000 boe/day to 898,000 boe/day, including 710,000 b/day of oil and 1.13bn ft3/day of gas, primarily thanks to higher yields at the Permian basin in Texas and New Mexico. Internationally, its output rose 99,000 boe/day to 2.19mn boe/day, driven by a 10% growth in gas extraction to 6.2bn ft3/day as a result of increased exports at the Wheatstone LNG project in western Australia. International liquids production was flat at 1.15mn b/day.