Chevron beats by $0.56, reports revs in-line (111.09)
Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $1.37 per share, $0.56 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.81; revenues fell 35.1% year/year to $34.56 bln vs the $34.72 bln consensus. Foreign currency effects increased earnings in the 2015 quarter by $580 mln, compared with a decrease of $79 mln a year earlier.
- First quarter earnings declined from a year ago due to sharply lower oil prices, which reduced revenue and earnings in our upstream business. - Downstream operations were strong, benefitting from lower feedstock costs and improved refinery reliability. - U.S. upstream operations incurred a loss of $460 mln in Q1 2015 compared to earnings of $912 mln from a year earlier, largely due to sharply lower crude oil realizations. Higher depreciation expenses, in part due to impairments, and lower natural gas realizations, were largely offset by higher crude oil production and lower operating expenses. - The company's average sales price per barrel of crude oil and natural gas liquids was $43 in Q1 2015, down from $91 a year ago. The average sales price of natural gas was $2.27 per thousand cubic feet, compared with $4.77 in last year's Q1. - Net oil-equivalent production of 699,000 barrels per day in Q1 2015 was up 59,000 barrels per day, or 9%, from a year earlier Production increased due to project ramp-ups in the Gulf of Mexico, the Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico, and the Marcellus Shale in western Pennsylvania