US supermajor Chevron’s upstream business has posted second quarter 2022 upstream earnings of $8.558 billion, up from $3.178 billion for the comparable period last year.

The company’s total reported earnings for the three months ended 30 June were $11.6 billion up from $3.1 billion one year before, while cash flow from operations stood at $13.8 billion.

Sales and other operating revenues in second quarter this year were $65 billion, compared to $36 billion in the same period last year.

“Second quarter financial performance improved as we delivered a return on capital employed of 26%,” said chief executive Mike Wirth.

The company also strengthened its balance sheet, lowering its debt ratio to below 15%, and increased the top end of its annual share repurchase guidance range to $15 billion.

“We more than doubled investment compared to last year to grow both traditional and new energy business lines,” Wirth added.

“With Permian production more than 15% higher than a year ago and now as one of the leading renewable fuel producers in the United States, Chevron is increasing energy supplies to help meet the challenges facing global markets.”

US deep-water project sanctioned

Operational highlights in the second quarter included Chevron taking the final investment decision on its Ballymore project in the deep-water US Gulf of Mexico, which is expected to require a gross investment of approximately $1.6 billion.

The field is planned to be exploited through an existing facility with allocated capacity of 75,000 barrels per day of oil.

The company also advanced its carbon capture and storage business in the quarter by launching a carbon capture and storage project aimed at reducing the carbon intensity of its upstream operations in California and forming an expanded joint venture to develop the Bayou Bend CCS hub in Texas, with the goal of it becoming one of the first offshore CCS projects in the US.

Chevron also signed agreements to export 4 million tonnes per annum of liquefied natural gas from the US Gulf Coast, commencing in 2026.

The company’s global net production in the second quarter of 2022 was 2.9 million barrels of oil equivalent per day.

Its international output was down 13% year-on-year, mainly due to the expiration of the Rokan production sharing contract in Indonesia and the Erawan concession in Thailand, while US production increased by 3% mostly from the Permian basin.

US upstream operations earned $3.37 billion in second quarter, compared with $1.45 billion a year earlier, while Chevron’s international E&P ventures earned $5.19 billion versus $1.73 billion in the comparable three months of 2021.

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