By Sabrina Valle
HOUSTON (Reuters) – Chevron Corp’s second-quarter earnings topped Wall Avenue estimates, the corporate stated on Sunday, and Chief Government Michael Wirth additionally signaled the quantity two U.S. oil firm stays open to extra acquisitions and to rising shareholder distributions this yr.
In a uncommon preview of its outcomes that coincided with the introduced retirement of its finance chief, Chevron disclosed a $6 billion internet revenue within the quarter ended June 30. Full outcomes will likely be disclosed on Friday.
Whereas that revenue is sort of half of the report revenue in the identical interval final yr, the $3.08 a share adjusted revenue beat Wall Avenue’s $2.97-a-share consensus estimate.
“The macro worth surroundings has softened somewhat bit versus the primary quarter,” Wirth stated in an interview outlining modifications to the corporate’s monetary and working govt workforce. “It’s nonetheless a powerful quarter.”
“We had excessive ranges of working efficiency (and) very, little or no unplanned downtime throughout our portfolio,” Wirth stated.
Chevron’s oil and gasoline manufacturing within the Permian Basin, the highest U.S. shale discipline, hit 772,000 barrels a day. The quantity was “the best quarter we have ever had within the Permian and 10% over the identical quarter final yr,” Wirth stated.
The corporate’s growth venture in Kazakhstan “continues to be on schedule and on price range,” he added.
Wirth signaled the corporate remains to be open to M&A offers and to rising shareholder distributions.
“We have the power to do each,” Wirth stated. “We do not have to commerce off one towards the opposite.”
The corporate earlier this yr agreed to amass PDC Power for $7.6 billion in money and bought debt. The deal is ready to shut subsequent month.
“We’ll go as much as about 400,000 barrels a day in DJ basin, which is roughly twice what it’s at present, when the deal closes,” Wirth stated.
(Reporting by Sabrina Valle in Houston; Modifying by Chris Reese)