10 January 2014 – Chevron expects to report lower production in the fourth quarter than the third, a hit likely to weigh on profit expectations.
The US supermajor on Thursday cited planned downtime in the US Gulf of Mexico, maintenance needs in Australia and unspecified downtime at its liquefied natural gas facility in Angola as culprits.
Chevron also expects Q4 earnings “comparable” to the third quarter, when profits were $5.4 billion.
“Upstream earnings for the fourth quarter are projected to be lower than the prior quarter, while downstream earnings are expected to be higher,” Chevron said in a filing Thursday.
Wall Street had been anticipating a better figure of $5.69 billion, according to a Reuters survey.
Shares were trading down 0.45% in after-hours trading in New York.
Chevron said its fourth-quarter output would fall at least below third-quarter figures of 2.585 million barrels of oil equivalent per day.
The company booked 2.668 million boepd a year ago in Q4 2012.
The declines are expected both domestically and abroad.
Chevron produced 655,000 boepd in Q3 2013, compared to 674,000 boepd in Q4 2012.
Internationally, the supermajor produced 1.93 million boepd in Q3 2013, a slide from 1.994 boepd in Q4 2012.
*Kathrine Schmidt, Upstreamonline
