Chevron 1Q Profit Drops

Chevron reported earnings of $4.5 billion for the first quarter 2014, compared with $6.2 billion in the 2013 first quarter.

Sales and other operating revenues in the first quarter 2014 were $51 billion, compared to $54 billion in the year-ago period.

“Our first quarter earnings were down from a year ago,” said Chairman and CEO John Watson, “primarily due to lower prices and volumes for crude oil. Crude prices were tempered by global economic factors, while our current year production volumes were affected by weather-related, unplanned downtime, particularly in Kazakhstan.

“We continue to advance our key development projects,” Watson added, “and we are anticipating production growth in 2015 and beyond as a result of these investments. Significant progress has been made on the construction of our Gorgon and Wheatstone projects in Australia. Our Jack/St. Malo and Big Foot projects in the Gulf of Mexico are also progressing, with first production planned for late 2014 and mid-2015, respectively. Our financial strength continues to allow us to fund these important growth projects which are expected to support a 20 percent increase in production by 2017, and to grow shareholder distributions.”

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