Chevron Doubled Its Profit in the 3rd Quarter

The company’s profit rose to $7.8 billion, or $3.92 a share, from $3.8 billion, or $1.87 a share, a year earlier.

The average analyst estimate was $3.48 a share, according to Thomson Reuters, though the company had said this month that it would report a profit similar to the $7.7 billion it earned in the second quarter.

Shares of Chevron closed 0.6 percent higher at $109.64 on Friday, within sight of their record high of $110, hit on Thursday. Third-quarter sales rose 26 percent to $61.26 billion, while its oil and gas output fell to 2.6 million barrels of oil equivalent per day from 2.74 million a year ago.

Getting production to grow remains a nagging problem for all the big oil companies. Chevron expects an increase of 100,000 to 150,000 barrels per day in the fourth quarter, driven by production in Thailand and the Gulf of Mexico from projects that are either new, upgraded or repaired.

The profit growth was driven by oil prices. Benchmark Brent crude averaged $112 per barrel in the quarter, up from $77 last year.

Chevron also recorded a gain of about $500 million from the sale of its British refinery to Valero Energy.

This week, the company increased its dividend for the second time this year, by 3.8 percent. Pat Yarrington, the company’s chief financial officer, said this reflected confidence in its net cash position of $10.6 billion, though she acknowledged some investors would prefer more share buybacks and said the board would always consider that.

Chevron bought back $1.25 billion worth of its own stock in the third quarter, and it expected to buy back about the same amount in the fourth quarter, she said.

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