Chevron doubles profit as record production meets oil price increase

HOUSTON (Bloomberg) -- Chevron reported third-quarter profit doubled from a year earlier as production increases met rising oil prices. Oil and gas output climbed to 2.96 MMbpd, a record.

Key Insights

Chevron is the last of the major oil companies to release results for the third quarter. BP, Shell and Total have all reported earnings that beat estimates. Exxon rose this morning after beating estimates. Chevron has a higher analyst percentage buy rating than BP, Royal Dutch Shell and Total at almost 68%, and, remarkably, no sell recommendations. But share performance has been worse than all its majors rivals this year, declining 11% even as Brent climbed 9 percent.

Chevron restarted share buybacks in the third quarter. "It will be critical to watch the pace of repurchases vs. guidance of $3 billion annually to determine whether the company will actively look for resource deals," according Fernando Valle and Jonathan Mardini of Bloomberg Intelligence

Market Reaction

Chevron traded up 1.8% in pre-market trading in New York.