Chevron said it hit record production in the shale-rich Permian Basin in the second quarter.
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released its second-quarter performance update on Sunday, better than expected ahead of this week’s major oil company earnings announcement.
Adjusted earnings of $3.08 per share beat consensus of $2.97 per share as tracked by
Datasets
.
This is down about 47% from last year’s Q2 and down from a profit of $3.55 a share in the first quarter of 2023.
The biggest reason Chevron’s earnings are down is that oil prices have plummeted since this time last year, when oil prices spiked due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
CEO Mike Wirth said in an interview with Barron’s. “We are at a lower price point than we were a year ago, but higher than we were two and three years ago. We must be prepared for high prices and low prices.
“We have a company built to last through cycles,” he added. “In [oil prices] less than $50, we pay out all of our dividends and all of our capital expenditures.”
Chevron’s independent directors voted for Wirth, waiving the company’s mandatory retirement age of 65 for him. He will turn 63 at the end of this year.
The company also announced its chief financial officer, Pierre Breber, is retiring after 35 years at the company. Eimear Bonner, chief technology officer, will succeed him starting March 2024.
In a statement, Wirth thanked Breber for his contributions and applauded Bonner, a 24-year Chevron veteran (ticker: CVX), saying she can “build on Chevron’s strong foundation and deliver greater value to shareholders.”
Chevron revealed it has hit record quarterly production in the Permian Basin, a shale-producing region in West Texas and southeastern New Mexico. Output there was 11% higher than in the second quarter of last year. It has been producing 772,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, and added that it is on track for full-year guidance.
Chevron said the quarterly shareholder distribution of $7.2 billion also set a record, including $4.4 billion in share buybacks and $2.8 billion in dividends.
Chevron expected to complete the acquisition of shale drillers
Energy PDC
in August.
Write to Liz Moyer at [email protected]
