Chevron profit, production up in 4Q 2018

Chevron has reported an increase in earnings for the fourth quarter 2018, posting a net income of $3.7 billion, up from $3.1 billion billion in the fourth quarter 2017.

The difference in earnings would have been even bigger in comparison, as 4Q 2017 result included $2.02 billion in tax benefits related to U.S. tax reform.

Full-year 2018 earnings were $14.8 billion, compared with $9.2 billion in 2017. Included in 2018 were impairments and other charges of $1.59 billion and a gain on an asset sale of $350 million.

Chevron’s worldwide net oil-equivalent production was 3.08 million barrels per day in the fourth quarter of 2018, compared with 2.74 million barrels per day from a year ago.  Net oil-equivalent production for the full year 2018 was 2.93 million barrels per day, compared with 2.73 million barrels per day from the prior year.

Chevron’s capital and exploratory expenditures in 2018 were $20.1 billion, compared with $18.8 billion in 2017. Expenditures for upstream represented 88 percent of the companywide total in 2018.

Michael K. Wirth, Chevron’s chairman of the board and chief executive officer said: “We reached significant milestones with upstream major capital projects in 2018, including the start-up of Wheatstone Train Two, our fifth operated LNG train in Australia. We also continued the ramp-up of the Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico, started production from the Big Foot Project in the Gulf of Mexico, and continued to progress our Future Growth Project at the company’s 50 percent-owned affiliate, Tengizchevroil, in Kazakhstan.”

“Our net oil-equivalent production grew more than 7 percent in 2018 to a record 2.93 million barrels per day. We expect that 2019 production will continue to grow by 4 to 7 percent, excluding the impact of asset sales,” Wirth said.

The company added approximately 1.46 billion barrels of net oil-equivalent proved reserves in 2018. These additions, which are subject to final reviews, equate to approximately 136 percent of net oil-equivalent production for the year. The largest additions were from the Permian Basin in the United States and the LNG projects in Australia, Chevron said.