Woodside reports year-over-year plunge in revenues but higher output helps earnings to improve on last quarter
Woodside Energy, the operator of the North West Shelf and Pluto liquefied natural gas LNG plants in Western Australia, reported a plunge in third-quarter revenues as LNG prices dropped from the record levels of last year though increased by 6 percent from the previous three months of 2023 as Woodside also suffered a regulatory setback on the Scarborough gas project.
Chevron more than doubles net profits from US oil and gas assets and assorted global LNG projects
Chevron Corp. more than doubled net income in 2022 as oil and gas sales increased at higher prices and LNG export demand soared in the Atlantic and Pacific basins.
Chevron reported annual net income of $35.60 billion for the upstream and downstream divisions combined compared with $15.68Bln in the previous year as well as posting higher quarterly earnings.
For the fourth quarter, Chevron registered $6.37Bbln of profits versus $5.08Bln in the same three months of 2021 to the end of December.
Revenues in 2022 increased by 52 percent to $246.25Bln compared with $162.46Bln in the previous year from key assets in areas such as the Permian Basin, the Eastern Mediterranean and LNG export projects such as Gorgon and Wheatstone in Western Australia and Angola LNG in southwest Africa,
Fourth-quarter revenues jumped to $56.47Bln from $48.13 in the prior-year quarter.
“We delivered record earnings and cash flow in 2022, while increasing investments and growing US production to a company record,” said Mike Wirth, Chevron’s Chairman and Chief Executive.
US production
“The company’s investments increased by more than 75 percent from 2021, and annual US production increased to 1.2 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, led by 16 percent growth in Permian Basin unconventional production,” explained Wirth.
The San Ramon, California-based company said worldwide net oil-equivalent production was 3.01 million barrels per day in the fourth quarter 2022 and 3.00 million barrels per day for the full-year 2022.
Chevron added 1.1 billion barrels of net oil-equivalent proved reserves during last year.
“The largest net additions were from assets in the Permian Basin, Israel, Canada and the Gulf of Mexico” added Chevron.
The company also raised its quarterly dividend per share an additional 6 percent, to $1.51 per share, putting the company on track to increase its annual per share dividend for the 36th straight year.
In addition, the company’s board approved a new $75Bln share repurchase program.
Quarterly highlights
“We are well positioned to lead in both traditional and new energy businesses, while delivering higher returns, lower carbon and superior shareholder value,” declared Wirth.
Among Chevron’s quarterly highlights, the company listed the taking of final investment decisions on major integrated chemicals projects in Texas and Qatar for the company’s 50 percent owned affiliate, Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LLC.
Chevron also approved a project to expand the Tamar gas facility offshore Israel.
It additionally announced a “significant” new natural gas discovery at the Nargis block in the East Med offshore Egypt.
The US major is also going forward with the Ballymore project in the deepwater US Gulf of Mexico with design capacity of 75,000 barrels of crude oil per day.
Chevron increased it carbon-reduction plans with multiple carbon-capture projects, including the Bayou Bend storage project in the US Gulf Coast. It also received permits to assess carbon storage offshore Australia.
US-based Kosmos Energy has ‘right strategy at right time’ with West African floating LNG export projects
Kosmos Energy, the US-based oil and gas development company and shareholder in the BP-led Senegal-Mauritania floating LNG production project offshore West Africa, swung to a third-quarter profit from a previous loss as it advanced with Atlantic-Margin projects in Africa and the Gulf of Mexico.
Japanese LNG player Inpex still has faith in US Gulf of Mexico oil and gas and increases stake
Inpex Corp., the Japanese operator of the Ichthys LNG export plant in Australian and with a stake in a large Indonesian liquefaction project, has acquired an additional portion of ExxonMobil’s Lucius and Hadrian North field stakes in the US Gulf of Mexico producing oil and natural gas.
Chevron outlines Australia LNG plans and discloses impact on Permian of US oil and gas restrictions
Chevron Corp., one of the leading global liquefied natural gas operators, will have continued lower output at the Gorgon and Wheatstone LNG plants in early 2021 and explained plans for the Permian Basin in Texas in the light of the new US regime for curtailment of the oil and gas industry by means of executive orders.
