Chevron Joins Other Majors in 4Q Weakness
US major Chevron said January 31 it had a $6.6bn loss in 4Q 2019, joining ExxonMobil and Anglo-Dutch major Shell in reporting significant plunges in income in the last three months of 2019.
The loss, which compares to a $3.7bn profit in the comparable quarter of 2018, includes previously-announced impairments and write-offs totaling $10.4bn taken by the company against certain North American gas assets, including its Appalachian shale gas properties and its Kitimat LNG project in Canada.
Those impairments were offset, in part, by a $1.2bn gain on the sale of UK central North Sea assets in 4Q 2019.
Earnings for all of 2019, Chevron said, fell to $2.9bn from $14.8bn in 2018.
Cash flow, however, remained strong in 2019, at $27.3bn, Chevron CEO Michael Wirth said, allowing the company to deliver on its financial priorities for the year.
“We paid $9bn in dividends, repurchased $4bn of shares, funded our capital program and successfully captured several inorganic investment opportunities, all while reducing debt by more than $7bn,” he said. “Earlier this week, we announced a quarterly dividend increase of $0.10 per share, reinforcing our commitment to growing shareholder returns.”
Chevron’s global natural gas production dipped to 9.8bn ft3/day in 4Q 2019 from 10.2bn ft3/day in the year-earlier period, while for the year, it averaged 9.9bn ft3/day, up from 9.1bn ft3/day in 2018.
Overall, total production by the company in 2019 broke the 3mn barrels of oil equivalent (boe)/day mark for the first time, averaging 3.06mn boe/day versus 2.93mn boe/day in 2018.