Chevron has posted a profit of $5.5 billion in the quarter ended on March 31, down from $6.57 billion from a year ago.
Chevron CEO Mike Wirth, while announcing the financial performance, did not reveal its achievement from its investments from renewable energy business.
Chevron, which has earlier set a target to cut operational emissions to net zero by 2050, earmarked $10 billion investment to reduce its carbon emissions through 2028, with about $3 billion earmarked for renewable fuels. In February 2022, Chevron announced a $3.15 billion deal to buy biodiesel maker Renewable Energy Group.
Chevron, the second largest U.S. oil producer, is feeling the pinch of weak energy prices and fuels margins that have cooled in the last year. A glut of natural gas and a warmer-than-expected winter slashed natural gas prices, eating into earnings.
“U.S. production was up 35 percent from a year ago, and we continued to meet major project milestones,” Mike Wirth said in a statement.
Chevron said results were sustained by higher production brought by the acquisition of PDC Energy and sustained strong execution in the Permian and Denver-Julesburg (DJ) Basins.
Chevron said first quarter oil and gas production jumped 12 percent, to 3.34 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd).
Chevron said Capex of $4 billion in the first quarter of 2024 was up from last year’s $3 billion largely due to higher investments in upstream, including post-acquisition spend on legacy PDC assets. Chevron did not reveal its specific investment in renewable business.
Earnings from pumping oil and gas were $5.24 billion, up from $5.16 billion in the same period a year ago. But profits from producing gasoline and chemicals fell sharply, to $783 million from $1.8 billion a year ago. Refining suffered from weaker margins and higher operating expenses, the company said.
Late last year, Chevron offered to buy Hess for $53 billion to get a foothold in oil-rich Guyana’s lucrative offshore fields, Reuters news report said.
The deal has been stalled by a regulatory review and challenged by Exxon Mobil, which claims the right to Hess’s Guyana assets. Exxon and partners aim to double production capacity to 1.3 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) by the end of 2027.
Chevron said the merger with Hess is advancing and it intends to certify substantial compliance with the Federal Trade Commission’s second request in the coming weeks.
Baburajan Kizhakedath