Chevron’s first-quarter profit slips to $2.6 bln

Chevron, the US-based energy company and the operator of the giant Gorgon and Wheatstone LNG projects in Australia, reported a drop in first-quarter earnings. 

The company posted a profit of $2.6 billion for the first three months, dropping from the $3.6 billion in the corresponding period in 2018.

Sales and other operating revenues in first quarter 2019 were $34 billion, compared to $36 billion in the year-ago period, Chevron said in its report.

“Upstream production volumes were up 7 percent from a year ago, primarily in the Permian Basin and at Wheatstone in Australia. The company’s net oil-equivalent production exceeded 3 million barrels per day for the second quarter in a row. First quarter earnings declined from a year ago, largely due to lower crude oil prices and weaker downstream and chemicals margins,” said Michael Wirth, Chevron’s chairman of the board and chief executive officer.

Chevron’s net oil-equivalent production was 3.04 million barrels per day in the first quarter of 2019, an increase of 7 percent from 2.85 million barrels per day from a year ago.

U.S. upstream operations earned $748 million in first quarter 2019, compared with $648 million a year earlier. The increase was primarily due to higher crude oil production partially offset by lower crude oil and natural gas realizations.

U.S. downstream operations earned $217 million in first quarter 2019, compared with earnings of $442 million a year earlier. The decrease was primarily due to lower margins on refined product sales and lower earnings from the 50 percent-owned Chevron Philips Chemical Company, partially offset by lower operating expenses due to the absence of a first-quarter 2018 turnaround at the El Segundo, California refinery.