Zhitong Finance APP learned that American oil and gas giant Chevron (CVX.US) announced its financial report for the fourth quarter of 2022 and the full year of 2022 before the U.S. stock market on January 27 (Friday). The data shows that the adjusted profit for 2022 is A record $36.5 billion, more than double the profit for the same period last year. However, the total profit and adjusted Q4 earnings per share in 2022 are lower than Wall Street expectations, mainly due to asset write-downs and the impact of falling oil and natural gas prices.
The 2022 adjusted profit level for the No. 2 U.S. oil producer will surpass the previous record of about $10 billion set in 2011. But the company’s fourth-quarter international oil and gas business took a writedown of about $1.1 billion, sending its full-year adjusted profit below Wall Street analysts’ consensus forecast.
Under the NON-GAAP standard, Chevron’s adjusted profit in the fourth quarter was US$7.9 billion, much higher than the US$4.9 billion in the same period last year; adjusted earnings per share were US$4.09, an increase of 61% over the same period last year , but below Wall Street expectations of $4.27. Chevron’s full-year 2022 adjusted profit reached $36.5 billion (below Wall Street expectations of $37.2 billion), compared with $15.6 billion in the same period last year, and adjusted EPS for the full year was $18.83, compared with $8.13.
Chevron’s results herald jaw-dropping profit levels for the global energy supplier. Some analysts believe Western energy giants such as Chevron will collectively post a staggering $200 billion in profits this year following the escalation of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and high oil prices due to buoyant demand and supply shortages.
Its refining business was even stronger, with profit levels tripling from a year earlier as international operations rebounded, driven by higher margins. Chevron’s U.S. downstream operations earned about $1.2 billion in the fourth quarter of 2022, up from just $660 million a year ago, thanks to sharply higher refined product margins. In the fourth quarter, the profit of the international downstream business reached US$591 million, which was only US$100 million in the one-year period. In the fourth quarter, the profit of the overall downstream business was US$1.771 billion, a year-on-year increase of 133%.
Industry profit levels have pushed energy stocks to the top of the market in terms of returns, as energy companies have boosted their dividends to shareholders. However, the latest figures may spark calls for a new windfall tax.
On Wednesday, the White House protested Chevron’s decision to triple its share repurchase budget to repurchase its own stock from future earnings — currently Chevron has announced $75 billion in share repurchases over the coming period, specifically The time period was not disclosed. The Biden administration has said companies should invest more to lower prices for petroleum products for consumers.
It is reported that Chevron paid $26 billion in dividends and buybacks to shareholders last year and invested $15.7 billion. Chevron said it would boost capital spending to $17 billion in 2023, with two-thirds of that spending domestically. Chevron’s CFO said that the scale of share repurchases will remain at 5 billion to 15 billion US dollars per year.
By 2022, Chevron’s free cash flow — a closely watched metric of operating efficiency — is up about $15 billion from the previous year, to a staggering $37.6 billion.
“A return on capital of more than 20 percent, or the return a company makes on every dollar invested in the business, demonstrates our commitment to capital efficiency,” CEO Michael Wirth said in a statement. attention is paying off.”
Chevron has been diverting new investment and focusing production on the U.S. for the most recent period. Production in the Permian Basin, the main U.S. shale basin, rose 16% last year to hit a record high.