Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX) reported on Friday lower-than-expected earnings for the third quarter, as international downstream weakness and maintenance at both the upstream and downstream operations weighed on profits.
Chevron booked earnings of $6.5 billion, or $3.48 per diluted share, for the third quarter of 2023, compared with $11.2 billion, or $5.78 per diluted share for the third quarter of 2022.
Last year, all oil majors were reporting record quarterly and annual profits amid soaring crude oil and natural gas prices.
Chevron's earnings per share for the third quarter of 2023, at $3.48, missed by a wide margin the Wall Street consensus of $3.70 per-share earnings, sending the supermajor's shares down by 2% in pre-market trade in New York on Friday.
"Third quarter 2023 earnings decreased compared to third quarter 2022 primarily due to lower upstream realizations and lower margins on refined product sales," Chevron said in a statement.
Chevron set a new quarterly record in U.S. net oil-equivalent production, which rose by 20% compared to the third quarter 2022, primarily due to the acquisition of PDC Energy, which added 179,000 oil-equivalent barrels per day during the quarter, and net production increases in the Permian Basin.
However, international net oil-equivalent production was down by 112,000 barrels per day from a year earlier, chiefly due to higher impacts from turnarounds, shutdowns, and normal field declines.
In the downstream segment, U.S. margins and fuel sales were higher and refinery crude oil inputs increased by 23% from the year-ago period primarily due to the absence of 2022 turnaround activity at the Richmond, California refinery. But international downstream earnings were lower compared to a year ago, mostly due to lower margins on refined product sales and lower favorable foreign currency effects. Refinery crude oil inputs fell by 4% as refinery runs decreased due to planned shutdowns, Chevron said.
The earnings miss from Chevron came days after the supermajor announced it would buy Hess Corporation in an all-stock transaction valued at $53 billion.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
Tsvetana is a writer for Oilprice.com with over a decade of experience writing for news outlets such as iNVEZZ and SeeNews. More