US energy major Chevron reported a $1.95 billion profit for the third quarter of 2017, jumping 51 percent from $1.28 billion in the corresponding quarter last year.
“We continue to see improvement in the underlying pattern of earnings and cash flow,” said chairman and CEO John Watson , said, adding that the company’s cash flow is at a positive inflection point, with oil and gas production increasing and capital spending falling.
“We’re completing projects that have been under construction and ramping up production, notably at our Gorgon LNG Project in Australia. And our shale and tight rock drilling activity in the Permian Basin is exceeding expectations.,” he said.
Earlier in the month, Chevron started production from its Wheatstone LNG project in Australia.
The average sales price for crude oil and natural gas liquids in third quarter 2017 was $48 per barrel, up from $41 a year earlier, Chevron said in its report, while the average price of natural gas was $4.76 per thousand cubic feet in the quarter, compared with $4.18 in last year’s third quarter.
Net oil-equivalent production of 681,000 barrels per day in third quarter 2017 was down 17,000 barrels per day from a year earlier.
Production increases from shale and tight properties in the Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico, and base business in the Gulf of Mexico, were more than offset by the impact of asset sales of 67,000 barrels per day, and normal field declines.