Chevron earnings jump on Permian output, Anadarko breakup fee

HOUSTON (Bloomberg) - Chevron posted strong production growth from the Permian Basin combined with a stabilization in its refining operations to beat earnings estimates in the second quarter.

Profit was $2.27 per share, surpassing the $1.76 average estimate of analysts in a Bloomberg survey. That includes $740 million from the termination fee the company received in connection with its aborted takeover of Anadarko Petroleum Corp.

Chevron is the top performer among the five supermajor oil producers this year after walking away from a bidding war for Anadarko Petroleum Corp., which Occidental Petroleum Corp. agreed to buy for $38 billion.

Refusing to escalate the bidding war for Anadarko, Chevron took a breakup fee and hiked its share buyback 25%, pleasing an investor base increasingly demanding cash returns from Big Oil.

Chevron will get most of its production growth from the Permian Basin and is planning a giant expansion at Tengiz in Kazakhstan but analysts have questioned whether the company has a large enough portfolio to sustain growth beyond 2023.