OpeOluwani Akintayo
with agency report
Lagos — Chevron Corporation shares fell by approximately 1% in the pre-market trading in New York after it posted its biggest loss in a decade.
The American oil giant slipped by 1.4% after it wrote down the value of North American natural gas fields and returns plunged from overseas refining and oil production.
Most of the fourth-quarter loss stemmed from $10.4 billion in previously announced impairments.
Profit from the company’s international downstream and upstream divisions also sank.
Chevron Chief Executive Officer Mike Wirth is differentiating the oil explorer from some of its biggest rivals by funding bigger shareholder payouts and buybacks with cash rather than borrowed money, according to a Blomberg report.
Royal Dutch Shell Plc rowed back on buyback plans and Exxon is facing another quarter of resorting to debt or asset sales to cover dividends.
Investors are keenly interested in whether the expansion of one of Chevron’s marquee fields in Central Asia will face additional cost increases.
For some few years now, it has continued to invest in divestment from being just an oil major to include gas.
