Chevron Earnings Higher in 4Q, Full Year
US major Chevron said February 1 its earnings in 2018 increased to $14.8bn from $9.2bn in 2017, while 4Q 2018 earnings rose to $3.7bn from $3.1bn in 4Q 2017, a period which saw $2.02bn in benefits from US tax reform.
Cash flow from operations for the full year increased to $30.6bn in 2018 from $20.3bn in 2017, while net capital and exploratory expenditures rose to $20.1bn from $18.8bn.
“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,” Chevron CEO Michael Wirth said. “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.”
Chevron added about 1.46bn barrels of oil-equivalent proved reserves in 2018, with the largest additions from the Permian Basin in the US and the Australian LNG projects.
Net natural gas production from US operations averaged 1.1bn ft3/day in the fourth quarter, up 20% year-on-year, while international natural gas production rose 19%, to 6.2bn ft3/day. Net global gas production for the full year was 14% higher, at 6.9bn ft3/day compared to 6.03bn ft3/day in 2017.