MOSCOW (MRC) -- Corp (CVX), the second-largest U.S. oil company, said its quarterly profit dropped 32% and posted a modest production outlook for this year despite surging capital spending, said the producer in its press release.
Chevron spent USD41.9 billion last year on capital and exploration projects, a 23% increase from 2012. Despite the higher spending, oil and natural gas production fell 3.4% to 2.6 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) in the quarter.
Chevron said rising production in the United States and Nigeria wasn't enough to offset declining production at legacy fields around the world.
For 2014, Chevron expects total production of 2.6 million boe/d, up only 0.5% from 2013 levels. The estimate missed Wall Street's expectations and disappointed investors, who had hoped 2014 would be a "positive transition year" toward 2017 when new projects come online, Credit Suisse analyst Edward Westlake said in a note.
Looking forward, Chevron said it has made "significant progress" on those growth projects, including two massive liquefied natural gas projects in Australia and deepwater wells in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.
"Major capital projects currently under construction are expected to deliver significant production growth and shareholder value in the years ahead," Chief Executive John Watson said in a statement.
The company reported net income of USD4.93 billion, compared with USD7.25 billion, in the year-ago period.
As MRC wrote before, Chevron Phillips Chemical, the petrochemical venture of US oil producer Chevron Corp. and refiner Phillips 66, has finalized the sale of its Chinese polystyrene business to Grand Astor Ltd. In the deal, Chevron Phillips is selling its affiliate company Chevron Phillips Chemical (China) Co. Ltd., which owns a polystyrene plant located in Zhangjiagang, China.
Chevron Corporation is an American multinational energy corporation. Headquartered in San Ramon, California, and active in more than 180 countries, it is engaged in every aspect of the oil, gas, and geothermal energy industries, including exploration and production; refining, marketing and transport; chemicals manufacturing and sales; and power generation. Chevron is one of the world's six "supermajor" oil companies; as of 2013, it ranked eleventh in the Fortune Global 500 list of the world's largest companies.
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