Thread: Chevron's second-quarter profit triples

Chevron's second-quarter profit triples

It reports a net income of $5.4 billion, beating analyst expectations and continuing a strong week for big oil firms.

July 31, 2010|By Ronald D. White, Los Angeles Times

Chevron Corp. continued what has been a very big week for most of the world's super-sized oil companies, shattering analyst expectations and tripling its second-quarter profit to $5.4 billion compared with a year earlier.

The industry's pumped-up profit provides a fresh target for public anguish over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, which has fouled beaches in five states since the deadly April 20 explosion of a rig drilling a well for London oil giant BP.

BP ResponseLearn About BP's Progress On The Gulf Of Mexico Response Effort. www.BP.com/GulfOfMexicoResponseIs Your Bank Collapsing?Free list Of Banks Doomed To Fail. The Banks and Brokers X List. Free! www.MoneyAndMarkets.com
"They are thriving when a lot of families are out there suffering," said Tyson Slocum, director of Public Citizen's energy program.

In light of oil companies' latest round of moneymaking, the recent $1-billion commitment made by Chevron, Exxon Mobil Corp., ConocoPhillips and Royal Dutch Shell to a rapid-response oil disaster team is "a bad joke," Slocum said. "It would take at least $5 billion to have a real response unit with the right technical training and equipment."

San Ramon, Calif.-based Chevron got a boost in its exploration and production business, known in the industry as "upstream" operations, from higher oil and natural gas prices and improved output. Chevron's refining and marketing section, or "downstream" operations, added a substantial kick to earnings after performing so poorly last year that the company decided to cut its workforce in that segment.

"We had another very successful quarter — both operationally and financially," Chairman and Chief Executive John Watson said in a statement Friday. "Current-quarter earnings from upstream operations benefited significantly from higher prices for crude oil and natural gas and higher net oil-equivalent production."

All but one of the world's giant oil conglomerates had similarly strong results.

Earlier this week, ExxonMobil said second-quarter profit soared to $7.6 billion, or $1.60 a share, from $4 billion, or 81 cents, in the same period a year earlier. ConocoPhillips announced a profit of $4.2 billion, or $2.77 a share, up from $859 million, or 57 cents.

BP was on track to post a hefty profit but ended up reporting a net loss of $15 billion for the quarter because of huge costs associated with the gulf oil disaster.

Westwood-based Occidental Petroleum reported net income of $1.1 billion, or $1.31 a share, up 61% from earnings of $682 million, or 84 cents. Occidental sales climbed to $4.8 billion, up nearly 30% from $3.7 billion.

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jul/31 ... n-20100731

Great! Good to know that at least a few companies are making a profit in the land of Fedzilla.