Chevron Corp announced its first quarter earnings on Friday. The Sam Ramon, California based Chevron said net income for the quarter increased by 4.2%, as the increased price of oil boosted the company’s profits from its production and exploration arm. Refining margins were improved, which offset a drop in oil production.
Chevron’s profit was $6.47 billion a per share rate of $3.27. That was up from the $6.21 billion and $3.09 per share from the same quarter one year ago. Net charges totally $504 million were included in the latest quarter, compared to only $388 million in the 2011 first quarter. Not including asset sales, earnings for Chevron per share were $3.17, which were below analysts’ estimates of $3.26. Revenue was $60.71, an increase of 0.6%.
Chevron was the only major oil company in the U.S. to post quarterly earnings that were higher for the current quarter compared to those of last year. Rivals ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobil Corp saw profits fall despite the increase in crude prices. The results from Chevron benefitted from greater exposure to the increasing crude prices, and lower vulnerability to the depressed natural gas prices in the U.S.
Chevron, nevertheless, echoed the lower production trend that both Conoco and Exxon reported. It indicates that the big wigs in the sector continue to face a struggle to up output, as their fields start to deplete and new resources’ access remains a legal challenge. The output for Chevron dropped by 4.7% to just 2.63 million barrels per day of oil, as increases in production from projects in both the U.S. and Thailand were offset by normal declines, downtime for maintenance and dispositions.
