Gas Helps Push Chevron Higher in 1Q
US major Chevron reported 1Q2018 earnings of $3.6bn on April 27, up from $2.7bn in the same period a year ago, and attributed the increase to strong gains from its international upstream operations.
Upstream earnings rose to $3.35bn from $1.52 billion, while the contribution to earnings from the downstream slipped to $728mn from $926mn.
“Oil and gas production is increasing, most notably in our Gorgon and Wheatstone LNG Projects in Australia, and [in] our shale developments in the Permian Basin, where production grew 65% percent from a year ago,” Chevron CEO Michael Wirth said. “Upstream volumes are expected to continue to increase in future quarters.”
Although net natural gas production in the US slipped 1%, to 993mn ft3/day, Chevron’s international natural gas production jumped 17%, to 5.6bn ft3/day from 4.8bn ft3/day, while the average sales price rose to $5.85/’000 ft3 from $4.36/’000 ft3 in the first quarter last year.
Worldwide production (oil and gas) was 2.85mn barrels of oil equivalent/day (boe/day) in 1Q2018, up 6% from its 2.68mn boe/day in 1Q2017.