Chevron Corp. said its first-quarter global oil and gas
production is expected to drop from the year-ago quarter, as poor
weather led to downtime in the U.S., Canada and other regions.
Chevron, the second-largest U.S. oil company in market value
after Exxon Mobil Corp., forecast first-quarter earnings to be
lower than the fourth quarter, hurt by foreign-currency
fluctuations and asset impairments and other charges.
The company said global oil-equivalent production in January and
February totaled 2.58 million barrels a day, down 2.5% from the
year-ago period.
Throughout the oil giant's interim report, Chevron compared the
first two months of the first quarter with the entire quarter of
the year-earlier period and all of the fourth quarter of 2013.
Chevron's U.S. production in the first two months of the quarter
reached about 637,000 barrels of oil and natural gas a day, an
decrease of 1.1% from a year earlier and falling 2% from the fourth
quarter.
International production reached 1.94 million barrels a day,
falling 2% from a year ago but rising 0.8% sequentially.
Chevron said current-year production has been stung by poor
weather across multiple regions, including Kazakhstan, Canada and
the U.S.
Realized U.S. oil prices decreased 3.4% from the first quarter
of 2013 to an average of $91.26 a barrel, while international oil
prices fell 3.9% to $98.37.
Realized U.S. natural-gas prices averaged $4.70 per thousand
cubic feet in the first two months of the quarter, 51% higher than
a year ago. Outside the U.S., natural-gas prices averaged $5.95 per
thousand cubic feet, down 2% from last year.
Chevron is slated to report full first-quarter results on May
2.
Write to John Kell at john.kell@wsj.com
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