Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX) posted a fourth-quarter loss of $6.6 billion versus earnings of $3.7 billion for the same period of 2018, on the back of massive write-offs of $10.4 billion predominantly in its U.S. shale gas assets.
On the production side, Chevron achieved record annual net oil-equivalent production of 3.06 million barrels per day, with Chevron’s CEO Michael Wirth commenting that “for the first time in the company’s history, annual production exceeded 3 million barrels per day of oil equivalent.”
In the fourth quarter, unconventional net oil-equivalent production in the Permian Basin stood at 514,000 barrels per day, representing growth of 36 percent compared to a year ago, Chevron said.
In the downstream, Chevron’s Q4 earnings grew in the United States thanks to higher margins on refined product sales and lower operating expenses. Internationally, Chevron’s downstream earnings declined to $184 million in Q4 2019, from $603 million a year earlier, largely due to lower margins on refined product sales.
After the results release, Chevron’s shares slumped at market opening and were down nearly 3 percent at 09:45 a.m. EDT.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
Shale continues to be a problem for oil producers. We are going to see a lot more written down as a lot of debt comes due. It will not be surprising to see defaults also mount. The oil exploration business is very capital intensive. Low oil prices are only going to make it harder to service the debt.