Chevron Corp

The Trump administration is preparing to weaken Biden-era methane controls on oil and gas operations, with the Environmental Protection Agency targeting requirements for marginal wells, large-leak detection and associated-gas flaring. Speaking Wednesday at the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association's annual meeting in Santa Fe, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said the proposal would address the burden on marginal wells and oil and gas operators in general, and the agency will also seek to rescind the Super Emitter Program, which lets certified third parties identify major methane releases and requires operators to investigate EPA notifications. EPA data show low-producing wells accounted for just 7% of U.S. oil and gas production in 2021 but roughly 60% of natural-gas production emissions and 40% of oil-production emissions. Reuters reported EPA estimates the planned rollback could save $45 billion annually, and the agency will also revisit rules governing associated gas, which producers often burn through flaring when they cannot capture or transport it. The Biden administration's 2023 methane rule sought to phase out routine flaring at new oil wells and tighten controls on new and existing sources, and EPA estimated that rule would prevent 58 million tons of methane emissions between 2024 and 2038, roughly an 80% reduction versus projected emissions without the standards. Publicly traded U.S. oil and gas producers that could see lower compliance costs include Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp., ConocoPhillips, Occidental Petroleum Corp., Diamondback Energy Inc. and Chord Energy Corp., all of which have significant U.S. onshore production footprints; the Sierra Club called the rollback foolish and short-sighted, while Zeldin said EPA is responding to producer concerns that the rules are unworkable.

Oil companies announced four separate transactions in four trading days as Brent crude held above $100 a barrel, with the U.S. Energy Information Administration now expecting Brent to average $96.32 a barrel in 2026 and $83.74 in 2027, up from $91.01 and $73.74 a month ago in its October Short-Term Energy Outlook. The EIA said Brent averaged $114 a barrel in September, $23 higher than in August, and touched a daily high of $131 on September 15 after attacks on Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline temporarily halted flows on a route that bypasses the Strait of Hormuz, and it assumes Middle East oil flows stay constrained through the fourth quarter with shut-ins averaging 4.5 million barrels per day. Cenovus Energy agreed on October 5 to acquire Athabasca Oil Corporation for C$12.00 per Athabasca share, payable in cash, Cenovus shares or a combination, for an implied enterprise value of C$5.7 billion, adding about 45,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day and expected to generate about $85 million a year in synergies. Energy Transfer agreed on October 6 to acquire Vaquero Midstream for about $2.6 billion, made up of $1.95 billion in cash and about 33.3 million newly issued Energy Transfer common units, adding roughly 300 miles of pipeline in Texas and the Caymus Processing Complex with about 675 million cubic feet per day of capacity. Chevron subsidiaries signed definitive agreements on October 6 with Hess Midstream to extend Bakken midstream terms, expecting to cut Bakken unit midstream costs by about 50%, divest its Hess Midstream interests and transfer DJ Basin crude oil midstream assets for $200 million in cash, and fully deconsolidate Hess Midstream including about $3.7 billion of its debt. Crescent Energy agreed on October 8 to acquire Devon Energy's Eagle Ford assets for an estimated net purchase price of about $3.85 billion after adjustments, adding about 68,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day of net production and more than 600 Tier 1 net locations, and launched a $1 billion offering of Class A common stock the same day. Shell issued its third quarter 2026 update note on October 7, pointing to an indicative refining margin of $42 a barrel, up from $24 in the second quarter, with Integrated Gas production expected at 740,000 to 780,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day and third quarter results scheduled for October 29.

SLB N.V. has expanded its long-term digital subsurface collaboration with TotalEnergies SE by adding Chevron Technical Center, a division of Chevron U.S.A. Inc., as the second global operator in the initiative. The collaboration, known as Arena, was established by SLB and TotalEnergies in 2024, and Chevron will contribute investment, intellectual property and technical expertise while adding capabilities in uncertainty analysis, optimization and field development planning. Arena focuses on improving decisions across reservoir engineering and geoscience, with embedded experts from Chevron and TotalEnergies at SLB technology centers designed to shorten feedback cycles and bring operational requirements directly into product development. The three companies have already collaborated on the Intersect reservoir simulator, and Arena extends that relationship into a broader digital framework focused on open and extensible technologies. SLB and TotalEnergies currently carry a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) each, while Chevron Corporation and Equinor ASA each sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

Chevron reported second-quarter adjusted earnings of $6.06 per share on July 31, beating the consensus estimate of $5.80, while revenue of $70.1 billion crushed expectations of $57.5 billion by more than 20%. Net oil-equivalent output hit 4.07 million barrels per day, up from 3.40 million a year ago, a nearly 20% year-over-year jump reflecting a full contribution from Hess along with record U.S. upstream production. Upstream earnings soared to $8.18 billion from $2.73 billion a year ago, and downstream earnings rocketed to $4.87 billion from just $737 million, helped by record crude throughput at U.S. refineries. Operating cash flow reached $22.6 billion, well ahead of the $19.7 billion analysts expected, and adjusted free cash flow came in at $15.4 billion versus $4.9 billion a year ago, while the net debt ratio fell to 13.1% from 17.9% in the prior quarter. In September, Chevron agreed to updated joint venture terms in Venezuela and plans to invest more than $7 billion over five years to more than double production to about 600,000 barrels per day by 2031, and the company reports third-quarter results before the bell on October 30.

SpaceX is reportedly seeking about $40B to finance a major Nvidia chip purchase, with Apollo Global Management expected to lead the financing. The package could include roughly $10B of bank loans and $30B of investment-grade debt, the Financial Times reported, adding another large financing commitment to the AI infrastructure buildout. Separately, David Ellison said technology will be central to Skydance's strategy following the completion of its $110B acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, noting in a memo obtained by Business Insider that technology is changing how content is created, distributed, and consumed. Constellation Energy jumped 12.2% Tuesday after announcing a 20-year power purchase agreement with Google tied to 890 MW of additional nuclear generation, lifting Talen Energy, Vistra, and NRG Energy by 12.4%, 10.7%, and 7%, respectively, while the State Street Utilities Select Sector SPDR rose 3%. Chevron agreed to sell interests in Hess Midstream and its DJ Basin crude midstream assets as it restructures related contracts, with revised Bakken agreements expected to cut midstream costs for its Bakken operations by roughly half. Ray Dalio warned the AI investment cycle is approaching a point where rising interest rates and heavy borrowing could trigger a reversal.

Halliburton and TotalEnergies have signed new agreements in Venezuela, deepening Western oil companies' push into the country's 303 billion barrels of crude reserves. Halliburton signed two memoranda of understanding with Brazil's Eneva and engineering firm WESCA to deploy digital technologies and subsurface interpretation tools for field evaluation and development planning in the Orinoco and Maracaibo basins. TotalEnergies' deal with PDVSA includes the Travi light crude field in Monagas state, reversing its 2021 withdrawal from the Petrocedeno joint venture. The moves follow a U.S. agreement signed on 2 September by Energy Secretary Chris Wright covering 65 billion barrels of proven reserves across 17 fields, a 100-year concession that President Donald Trump called "the biggest oil deal in world history." Chevron has raised Venezuelan output from 40,000 barrels per day to 250,000 bpd, with CFO Eimear Bonner projecting a 50% increase to 420,000 bpd by the end of 2028, while BP has opened a permanent Caracas office and secured a license for Phase 2 of the offshore Loran gas field.

Chevron CEO Mike Wirth said Tuesday that the energy system is more fragile than earlier in the Middle East war as oil and gas market fundamentals tighten, according to Reuters. Speaking at the Energy Intelligence Forum in London, Wirth said the landed price of physical oil in Asia is currently closer to $150/bbl than current Brent prices of ~$100/bbl. He added that refined products markets are also tightening, driving gasoline and diesel prices well above underlying crude, which has pushed G7 governments to implement a 100M-barrel crude and diesel strategic reserve release amid threats of a potential U.S. ban on exports. Wirth warned that restricting supply through an export ban would constrain supplies when the world needs them, saying the U.S. is not independent of world markets and that a diesel ban could raise prices for consumers in some parts of the U.S. and send a bad signal to allies that rely on American supplies. He also said oil and gas demand will continue to grow after the end of the Iran war, and that Chevron could join an Iraq-to-Mediterranean oil pipeline consortium.

Chevron Corp. is raising its budget for conventional exploration and appraisal after a five-year stretch of soft spending, with 2026 outlays projected to exceed $1.5 billion. The company spent $1.82 billion on conventional exploration and appraisal between 2021 and 2025, a 36% drop from the prior five-year period, and is now committing capital across frontier blocks in Egypt, Peru, Suriname, Brazil, Guinea-Bissau, Namibia, and the Gulf of Mexico. The push follows a decline in Chevron's proven reserves to a decade low of 9.8 billion barrels of oil equivalent at the end of 2024, before recovering to 10.6 billion BOE at the close of 2025, helped by additional reserves and the $53 billion acquisition of Hess Corporation. Chevron shares closed at $206.69 on October 2, extending their 2026 gain to 35.61% and outpacing the broader S&P 500. Management expects annual EPS and adjusted free cash flow growth of more than 10% through 2030, assuming nominal Brent prices of $70 per barrel.

Chevron is expanding its stake in Namibia's Orange Basin, with its affiliate Harmattan Energy Ltd. agreeing to acquire Trago Energy Pty Ltd.'s 10% participating interest in Petroleum Exploration License 90. Trago, a subsidiary of Custos Energy (Pty) Ltd., will receive $11 million in cash at closing plus contingent consideration tied to future appraisal and production milestones, with the deal still subject to government, regulatory and third-party approvals. The move follows Chevron's August decision to farm out a 17.4% interest in PEL 90 to Equinor, which would have cut Chevron's stake from 52.5% to 35.1%; adding the Trago interest would lift it to 45.1% if both transactions close, while Chevron continues to operate the license. PEL 90 covers Block 2813B, roughly 5,433 square kilometers near the TotalEnergies-operated Venus discovery, and Chevron plans to drill the Nabba-1X exploration well there in the fourth quarter of 2026 as part of a wider multi-well campaign across Sub-Saharan Africa. Nabba-1X would be Chevron's second offshore Namibia well after Kapana-1X reached total depth in January 2025 without encountering commercial hydrocarbons.

Chevron has drawn heavy investor search interest on Zacks.com, with the company now rated Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) on the strength of sharply rising earnings estimates. Chevron is expected to post earnings of $4.89 per share for the current quarter, a year-over-year change of +164.3%, and the Zacks Consensus Estimate has moved +22.4% over the last 30 days. For the current fiscal year, the consensus earnings estimate of $16.98 points to a change of +132.9% from the prior year, while the next fiscal year's consensus estimate of $15.11 indicates a change of -11%. On the revenue side, the consensus sales estimate of $59.3 billion for the current quarter points to a year-over-year change of +19.3%, with the $235.36 billion and $228.55 billion estimates for the current and next fiscal years indicating changes of +24.5% and -2.9%, respectively. In the last reported quarter, Chevron posted revenues of $70.06 billion, a year-over-year change of +56.3%, and EPS of $6.06 versus $1.77 a year ago, beating the Zacks Consensus revenue estimate of $57.53 billion by +21.78% and the EPS estimate by +4.48%.

Technology and energy emerged as the two most consequential sector stories of the first nine months of 2026, with the S&P 500 gaining 11.4% and the Nasdaq Composite up 15.6% even as the 10-year Treasury yield moved above 5% and Brent crude gained about 40% in the third quarter. According to the Zacks Earnings Trend report dated Sept. 30, the tech sector is expected to post 42.1% earnings growth in the third quarter of 2026, with semiconductor earnings projected to surge 85.5% on 62.8% revenue growth; that growth would moderate to 29.6% excluding semiconductors and to 20.6% excluding NVIDIA, Micron and Alphabet. NVIDIA's fiscal second-quarter 2027 revenues rose 106% year over year, with Data Center revenues jumping 117%, while Micron reported fiscal fourth-quarter 2026 revenue growth of 379.3% year over year, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 6.33%, with EPS of $33.42 topping the estimate by 5.73%. On the energy side, Middle East disruptions pushed Brent above $100 per barrel during September, and Zacks expects Energy earnings to surge 111.8% in the third quarter, the sector's most pronounced upgrade to its earnings outlook since the quarter began. Chevron reported $12 billion in second-quarter 2026 adjusted earnings, its highest quarterly profit in six years, with upstream earnings rising 200% to $8.2 billion and U.S. production reaching a record nearly 2.1 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, while Exxon Mobil reported $14.7 billion in second-quarter adjusted earnings, $23.6 billion in operating cash flow and $17.2 billion in free cash flow.

Venezuela's oil exports fell nearly 9% in September to 1.08 million barrels per day as soaring tanker costs forced traders to demand steeper discounts and delayed cargoes leaving the country. Global trading houses including Vitol and Trafigura pressed PDVSA for better terms as freight costs chewed into margins, and tanker reroutings added to shipping delays that had already accumulated over the summer. The United States took more Venezuelan crude despite the overall decline, with shipments rising to 629,000 bpd from 553,000 bpd in August, while India fell to 253,000 bpd from 297,000 bpd and European purchases plunged to 86,000 bpd from 260,000 bpd. Chevron shipped about 283,000 bpd, roughly unchanged from August, and trading firms moved 637,000 bpd, up from 597,000 bpd. The figures landed as more than 250 companies descended on Caracas for Venezuela's next round of oil development, with Chevron pledging more than $7 billion over five years to more than double its Venezuelan production to roughly 600,000 bpd, and Rystad Energy estimating Venezuelan production could reach 1.6 million bpd by 2028 and 1.8 million bpd by 2030, though the country had just two active drilling rigs as of August against an estimated need for around 50 rigs by 2028 and nearly 80 by 2030.

Trago Energy Pty Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Custos Energy (Pty) Ltd., has agreed to transfer its 10% participating interest in Petroleum Exploration License 90 offshore Namibia to Harmattan Energy Limited, an affiliate of Chevron Corporation, for $11MM in cash at completion plus contingent consideration tied to appraisal and production milestones. Sintana Energy Inc., which holds a 49% indirect interest in Trago, said the contingent consideration includes revenues from commercial production currently estimated at between 1.5 and 2.5 MM barrels of oil, depending on commodity price assumptions. The deal leaves Trago with continued exposure to PEL 90 prospectivity, including the Nabba-1X exploration well, while eliminating its funding and capital risk; after completion Trago will hold no participating interest in the licence and will have no obligation to fund its share of costs. Completion remains subject to governmental, regulatory and third-party approvals, and Sintana said any upfront consideration net of costs, fees and taxes will support its corporate activities. PEL 90 covers approximately 5,433 km² in the Orange Basin and is operated by Chevron; its participants, adjusted for a recently announced but uncompleted farm-out to Equinor and prior to Trago's interest exchange, are Chevron with 35.1%, Qatar Energy with 27.5%, Equinor with 17.4%, the National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia with 10% and Trago with 10%. Upon completion, Custos will contribute N$10 million to the University of Namibia Foundation toward construction of UNAM's new campus in Walvis Bay.

Chevron holds a Zacks Earnings ESP of +4.60% and a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) heading into its next quarterly report, a combination that suggests another earnings beat may be around the corner. The oil company has beaten estimates in each of its last two reports, with an average surprise of 28.87%. In the last reported quarter, Chevron earned $6.06 per share against a Zacks Consensus Estimate of $5.8 per share, a surprise of 4.48%. In the prior quarter, it posted earnings of $1.41 per share versus an expected $0.92 per share, a surprise of 53.26%. Estimates have been trending higher, and Zacks research shows that stocks combining a positive Earnings ESP with a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) or better produce a positive surprise nearly 70% of the time.

Chevron Corporation is expanding robotics and remotely operated tools across its global field operations to improve safety, efficiency and data quality, with the company reporting more than $92 million in savings and over 143,000 at-risk hours eliminated across its robotics initiatives since 2024. Within that broader program, robotic tank inspections alone have saved more than $25 million and about 43,000 work hours since 2024, while robotic cleaning has generated more than $6 million in savings and reduced roughly 28,000 hours. Submersible inspection robots can examine tank bottoms without fully draining and venting equipment, limiting downtime and improving data quality, and Chevron has deployed such systems at multiple U.S. facilities including its El Segundo refinery in California. Beyond tanks, Chevron uses drones for visual and thermal inspections and emissions detection, is developing autonomous drone-in-a-box systems to reduce field visits, and deploys Spot robots to patrol facilities, inspect equipment and collect images that help maintenance teams flag potential issues earlier. Chevron's latest Form 10-Q does not separately quantify robotics benefits but identifies technology-enabled productivity as one contributor to its broader cost-reduction program and evolving operating model. Peers Shell and TotalEnergies are pursuing similar automation, with Shell using land, subsea and aerial systems including Sensabot and ExR-1, and TotalEnergies advancing its ARGOS autonomous inspection program through trials in the North Sea and Angola. Chevron currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Chevron and ExxonMobil have each signed separate agreements with Petrovietnam and its refining subsidiary covering potential crude and energy supply to Vietnam. Petrovietnam and Chevron signed a framework cooperation agreement covering potential cooperation in crude oil, liquefied natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas and refinery feedstock, and BSR separately stated it had signed crude oil supply agreements with Chevron. Separately, Petrovietnam Refining and Petrochemical Corporation, known as BSR, signed a crude oil supply framework agreement with ExxonMobil Asia Pacific for the Dung Quat Refinery in central Vietnam, expected to help secure a minimum crude oil supply of 2 million barrels per year for the refinery. In 2025, Dung Quat Refinery imported approximately 8.28 million metric tons of crude oil, with imported crude accounting for about 31% of total feedstock, and for 2026 BSR expects imported crude to represent approximately 15% of its feedstock. Since the beginning of 2026, the refinery has tested three additional crude types, bringing its total processing capability to 40 grades, including 12 domestic and 28 imported grades, and it can process Nigeria's Erha crude at a maximum blending ratio of approximately 45% by volume. The financial value and detailed delivery schedule of the ExxonMobil agreement have not been disclosed, and the agreements do not yet provide enough information to assess their direct financial impact on Chevron or ExxonMobil.

Energy stocks rose in pre-market trading after President Donald Trump rejected an Iranian proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, sending crude oil prices sharply higher. International benchmark Brent crude climbed more than 3% to top $107 a barrel, according to Reuters, extending supply concerns across a chokepoint that historically handles a fifth of global petroleum shipments. Chevron, Exxon Mobil, and the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund traded higher in pre-market indications, while refiners Valero Energy, Marathon Petroleum, and Phillips 66 advanced overnight alongside rising diesel futures. Among individual movers, U.S. shale exploration and production company Crescent Energy jumped 2.6%, and mixed or offshore upstream exploration and production company Kosmos Energy jumped 2.8%. Sustained crude above $100 expands cash-flow projections for upstream producers, according to Bloomberg, but refiners face headwinds after Trump said the administration is considering a ban on diesel exports to lower domestic fuel costs, which could force refinery run cuts, according to Reuters.

Chevron Corporation and Egypt are working to accelerate the agreements and procedures needed to connect Cyprus' Aphrodite natural gas field to Egyptian infrastructure. Egyptian petroleum minister Karim Badawi and Chevron's president of Base Assets and Emerging Countries, Javier La Rosa, discussed the technical, financial and commercial frameworks required to finalize the project, with Egypt seeking to speed up the remaining procedures. Aphrodite, located in Cyprus' offshore Block 12, was discovered in 2011 and holds approximately 98 billion cubic meters of contingent resources, with potential for an additional 26 billion cubic meters of prospective resources; the development plan calls for four production wells linked to a floating production unit, with gas transported to Egypt for processing. An agreement signed in April calls for Egypt's EGAS to import the full production from Aphrodite, with around 100 billion cubic meters of gas expected to be supplied over 15 years. Beyond Aphrodite, Chevron and Egyptian officials discussed expanding the company's natural gas exploration activities in the Mediterranean, particularly in the Western Mediterranean, and Chevron reaffirmed its commitment to maintaining investments and activities in Egypt.

Chevron Corporation is raising its exploration budget by more than 50% versus 2025 and plans to drill about 20 exploration wells next year, up from 10 wells two years ago, plus another five or six appraisal wells. Kevin McLachlan, who joined Chevron last year to lead the exploration arm, told the Financial Times that exploration spending is expected to exceed $1.5 billion in 2026, compared with just under $1 billion last year. The company has secured exploration blocks in Brazil, Egypt, Guinea-Bissau, the Gulf of Mexico, Namibia, Peru, and Suriname, and its total exploration acreage has doubled since 2024. The push follows a period of weaker activity: Wood Mackenzie data cited by the Financial Times show Chevron's conventional exploration and appraisal spending fell 36% to $1.82 billion during 2021-2025 versus the prior five-year period, and proved reserves ended 2024 at a decade low of 9.8 billion barrels of oil equivalent before recovering to approximately 10.6 billion BOE at the end of 2025, mainly on the Hess acquisition and other reserve additions. Chevron paid $12.8 billion in dividends in 2025 and has cut capital expenditure guidance to $18 billion to $21 billion per year, while targeting adjusted free cash flow growth of more than 10% annually at $70 Brent.

Chevron Corporation has achieved $3 billion in annual run-rate structural cost reductions since 2024, reaching its target six months ahead of schedule, and now targets $3-$4 billion of structural cost reductions by the end of 2026. Management said more than 70% of these savings came from efficiency improvements, a distinction that matters because operational efficiencies persist beyond short-term spending cuts. In Chevron's shale operations, the company expects to spend 25% less capital per barrel of oil equivalent in 2026 compared with 2025, with savings largely offsetting inflationary pressures while production continues to grow across the Permian, Gulf of America and Guyana. The push includes portfolio optimization, greater use of technology and expanded use of global capability centers. Among peers, ExxonMobil Holdings Corporation has generated $16.3 billion in cumulative structural cost savings since 2019 and targets $20 billion by 2030, while Shell plc has delivered $700 million in savings so far in 2026 toward a broader $5 billion-$7 billion target that is already about halfway achieved, ahead of schedule.

HSBC upgraded BP and TotalEnergies to Buy from Hold on Friday, raising earnings and cash flow estimates across its global oil coverage after lifting its Brent crude, refining margin, and gas price forecasts. Analysts led by Kim Fustier raised their 2026 Brent assumption to approximately $90 per barrel from $80, and their 2027 forecast to $85 from $65, citing a partial, gradual recovery in Strait of Hormuz flows, while also raising the second-half 2026 TTF gas price forecast to $22.5 per million British thermal units from $16.7 and the 2027 forecast to $17 from $12. The revisions lifted HSBC's 2026-28 earnings-per-share estimates across the sector by averages of 19%, 65% and 33%, respectively, with cash flow per share estimates rising by averages of 12%, 30% and 14%, and the largest revisions falling on international majors given their combined upstream, refining and trading exposure. For BP, HSBC raised its price target to 640 pence from 570 pence, implying nearly 18% upside, and for TotalEnergies it raised its target to €93 from €80, implying 18.4% upside. HSBC retained Buy ratings on Shell, Repsol and Chevron, raising Chevron's price target to $250 from $218 and expecting it to lift its annual buyback run rate to $15 billion from $10-12 billion, while Eni, Equinor, Galp and ExxonMobil stayed at Hold and OMV remained at Reduce.

Chevron plans to begin seismic research in offshore blocks around Greece by the end of this year, country manager Beatrice Bienvenu told Greek energy minister Stavros Papastavrou during a meeting in New York. The survey will cover the Ionian Sea and areas south of the Peloponnese and Crete. Chevron earlier this year acquired a 70% stake from Helleniq Energy in an offshore block southwest of the Ionian Sea, and a Chevron-led consortium also secured exclusive lease agreements to explore for natural gas across three additional deep-sea blocks off the Peloponnese and Crete. The Chevron and Helleniq Energy agreements cover four offshore blocks — South Crete 1, South Crete 2, South of Peloponnese and Block A2 — spanning approximately 47,000 square kilometers in total. The seismic work is an initial step rather than a move toward immediate commercial production, and the joint venture has outlined a three-phase exploration program covering seismic data acquisition, exploratory drilling and reservoir analysis. Chevron already holds active natural gas fields in Israel and interests in Egypt and Cyprus, and the Greek campaign extends that Eastern Mediterranean footprint.

Chevron is expected to post earnings of $4.89 per share for the current quarter, a year-over-year change of +164.3%, with the Zacks Consensus Estimate rising +3.7% over the last 30 days. For the current fiscal year, the consensus earnings estimate of $16.52 points to a change of +126.6% from the prior year and has moved +2.2% over the past month, while the next fiscal year's estimate of $14.67 indicates a -11.2% change and has risen +3.8% over the past month. The consensus sales estimate of $55.07 billion for the current quarter points to a year-over-year change of +10.7%, with the $229.69 billion and $217.28 billion estimates for the current and next fiscal years indicating changes of +21.5% and -5.4%, respectively. Chevron reported revenues of $70.06 billion in the last reported quarter, a year-over-year change of +56.3%, and EPS of $6.06 versus $1.77 a year ago, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $57.53 billion by +21.78% on revenue with an EPS surprise of +4.48%. The recent change in the consensus estimate along with three other earnings-estimate factors has resulted in a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) for Chevron, and the stock is graded A on the Zacks Value Style Score.

Chevron announced updated agreements covering its Venezuelan joint ventures, including additional acreage in the Orinoco Belt, and plans to invest more than $7 billion over the next five years. The company expects production from its Venezuelan ventures to more than double to approximately 600,000 barrels per day, with total production costs below $20 per barrel. The move comes as U.S. imports of Venezuelan crude jumped by 183,000 barrels per day in the week ended Sept. 11 to 782,000 barrels per day, the highest weekly total since August 2017, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Over the past six months, Venezuelan imports have increased by 550,000 barrels per day, or 237%, while the three-month average reached 626,000 barrels per day. President Trump has said he will use Venezuelan oil to help refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and the Sept. 11 Federal Register lists Chevron among companies authorized to conduct specified Venezuela-related activities. Chevron reported second-quarter revenue of $70 billion, earnings of $12 billion, or $6.06 per share on an adjusted basis, and adjusted free cash flow of $15.4 billion, while its board declared a quarterly dividend of $1.78 per share.

Chevron and ExxonMobil both used the Gastech conference in Bangkok to announce expanded liquefied natural gas goals, betting that long-term global demand growth will continue despite supply disruptions. Chevron's President of Global Gas, Freeman Shaheen, told Reuters the company is eyeing expansion on four continents — Argentina, the eastern Mediterranean, Africa, and Australia — and will have approximately 20 million metric tons of LNG supply capacity, split between 16 million tons of net production from its own projects and 4 million tons contracted from the US Gulf Coast, a deal that began ramping up in February. ExxonMobil's senior vice president for LNG, Peter Clarke, told Bloomberg the company is raising its 2030 LNG sales forecast to approximately 50 million tons per year, up from a previous aim of 40 million tons, a larger figure reflecting its existing footprint including the Golden Pass export terminal in Texas and projects in Papua New Guinea and Mozambique. The two companies are already partners in Australia, where Chevron operates the Gorgon LNG project with a 47.3% stake and ExxonMobil owns 25%, even as they compete for customers and growth opportunities elsewhere. Neither announcement included a specific capital figure or project-level commitment, so both should be read as strategic direction rather than verified spending plans, with the real test being which projects convert from stated ambition to sanctioned, funded developments over the next few quarters.

Chevron chairman and chief executive Mike Wirth said publicly that he does not see how oil prices come down quickly, warning that the mechanisms that absorbed the earlier oil supply shock have largely been used up and that risks remain to the upside over the next few months. Speaking at a University of Texas at Austin energy conference on September 11, Wirth said strategic reserve releases, commercial inventory drawdowns and eased restrictions on sanctioned crude stored at sea had all played out, and the loss of flexibility became more acute after attacks knocked out a major Saudi crude pipeline bypassing the Strait of Hormuz, putting an estimated 2.5 million barrels of oil per day in limbo. The average U.S. diesel price crossed $6 per gallon for the first time on September 10 and had hit a record $6.23 a gallon by the time Wirth spoke, while gasoline was back up to about $4.32 a gallon after slipping below $4 during the summer. Brent crude for November 2026 delivery traded near $105 a barrel around the conference and West Texas Intermediate was just above $100, up about 50% from roughly $70 before the Iran war started in late February, with China's return to the international market adding demand pressure. President Trump said on September 9 that oil prices would come down right after the election, tying the timeline to the November midterms, while Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has called the latest supply disruption temporary and pointed to expanded Venezuelan output and U.S. refining capacity as near-term offsets.

Chevron plans to more than double the number of oil rigs it operates in Venezuela, CFO Eimear Bonner said at a Barclays conference on September 8, part of a five-year plan to increase output. The rig expansion follows Chevron's announcement that its joint venture partnerships in Venezuela would invest more than $7 billion to more than double oil output to 600,000 barrels per day by 2031, up from roughly 290,000 barrels per day currently produced by its three Venezuelan JVs, all of which is exported to the United States. The move builds on Chevron's longstanding presence in Venezuela, where it has operated since 1923 and was the only American oil major to keep operating under a special US license despite sanctions. It comes alongside a larger agreement between Washington and Caracas announced this month that gave the US majority control over around 20% of Venezuela's proven crude reserves, with the White House inviting American oil companies to revive and modernize the country's oil infrastructure. Chevron expects to keep total production costs below $20 per barrel, though the company still faces political instability, nationalization risk, and dilapidated oil infrastructure in the country.

Chevron has secured updated agreements in Venezuela, committing over US$7.0b to expand its Orinoco Belt footprint as global oil market buffers tighten and geopolitical risks keep crude prices elevated. The company's share price has climbed 21.85% over the past 90 days and 35.71% year to date, contributing to a 1-year total shareholder return of 38.45%. Chevron closed at $211.57, while the most followed narrative pegs fair value at $221.21 using a 7.24% discount rate, implying the stock is 4.4% undervalued. Record production growth, especially in the Permian and from the Hess acquisition in Guyana and the Bakken, positions Chevron to meet rising energy demand. Still, heavy dependence on long-lived oil projects and execution risk in places like Venezuela could quickly undermine the current undervaluation story.