By Michael Calia
Chevron Corp. said its first-quarter profit fell 27% as revenue
slipped amid lower oil prices and production.
The results fell short of expectations.
"Our first quarter earnings were down from a year ago, primarily
due to lower prices and volumes for crude oil," Chairman and Chief
Executive John Watson said.
The company said its global oil-equivalent production for the
period fell to 2.59 million barrels a day from the year-earlier
tally of 2.65 million, as normal field declines and unplanned
downtime related to poor weather--mainly in Kazakhstan--more than
offset production increases in Nigeria, Angolia and the U.S.
Chevron--the second-biggest U.S. oil company in market value
behind Exxon Mobil Corp.--had warned last month that production
would drop year-over-year as severe weather led to downtime in the
U.S., Canada and Kazakhstan, among other regions.
The company also said in April that U.S. oil prices fell 3.2%
during the quarter, compared to a year earlier, to $91 a barrel.
International prices fell 2.9% to $99 a barrel.
Chevron reported earnings of $4.51 billion, or $2.36 a share,
down from $6.18 billion, or $3.18 a share, in the year-earlier
period.
Revenue fell 6.3% to $53.27 billion.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected per-share
earnings of $2.51 and revenue of $57 billion.
Earnings from exploration and production, or upstream, fell 27%
to $4.31 billion, as the company experienced declines in the U.S.
and abroad.
Refining, marketing and chemical operations, or downstream, rose
1.3% to $710 million, as U.S. gains offset a decline in
international operations.
Chevron earlier this week said it boosted its quarterly dividend
by 7% to $1.07 a share.
Write to Michael Calia at michael.calia@wsj.com
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