Latest news with #ChevronCorp.
Bloomberg
5 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Exxon to Operate Guyana ‘Business as Usual' If It Loses Chevron-Hess Arbitration
Exxon Mobil Corp. said it will be 'business as usual' in its massive Guyana oil field if it loses its arbitration case against Chevron Corp. and Hess Corp. Exxon remains confident it will prevail in the case over the field's ownership at the International Chamber of Commerce, Neil Chapman, senior vice president, said at the Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference in New York on Thursday. But there will be 'no change for us' if Exxon loses, he said.
Epoch Times
03-05-2025
- Business
- Epoch Times
Chevron's First-Quarter Profit Drops as Oil Prices Slide
Falling commodity prices cut deeply into Chevron Corp.'s first-quarter profits as the nation's second-largest integrated supermajor seeks to return to its roots as a global oil and gas explorer. For the period ended March 31, Chevron Excluding a one-time $175 million loss related to a tax levy on United Kingdom profits and an impairment charge tied to its $53 billion acquisition of former rival Hess Corp. in late 2023, Chevron's first-quarter earnings were $3.8 billion or $2.18 per share. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had expected adjusted earnings of $2.15 per share on revenue of $49.06 billion. During the company's first-quarter 'Recent macro uncertainty underscores the importance of cost and capital discipline,' Wirth said. 'Chevron has a proven track record of managing through uncertainty and commodity cycles, and with longstanding financial priorities as our guide, we're well-positioned to win in any environment.' Related Stories 5/2/2025 4/29/2025 Wirth also highlighted the company's recent major deep-water projects in the Last week, the former San Francisco-based oil giant announced plans to begin oil and natural gas production from its deep-water Ballymore project in the Gulf of America. In August 2024, Chevron announced plans to relocate its corporate headquarters to Houston, closer to its upstream and refining operations, where it employs more than 7,000 people. Wirth said the Ballymore project represents another step toward the company's goal to produce 300,000 net barrels per day of oil equivalent from the Gulf of America in 2026, a nod to President Donald Trump's Wirth also discussed the company's downstream operations in California, where Phillips 66 and Valero Energy have announced plans to shutter their refinery operations due to the state's stringent reformulated gas program to reduce carbon emissions. Phillip 66 recently shut its 139,000-bpd refinery complex near Los Angeles, while Valero has announced plans to shut down its Benicia, California-based facility by the end of 2026. 'We've been pretty vocal about the [climate-related] policy coming out of Sacramento. Particularly, it will make it nearly impossible to invest in California going forward,' said Wirth, adding that the former San Ramon, California-based oil giant has two large refineries in the state. In response to analysts' questions about oil and gas prices, Wirth said the company will buy back only $2.75 billion of its stock in the second quarter due to the downturn in global commodity prices. The company's stock buyback program totaled $3.9 billion in the first quarter. In December 2024, Chevron sold its interest in a Canadian shale play project for $6.5 billion, in line with plans to divest nearly $10 billion to $15 billion in aging assets and properties by 2028. The Houston oil and gas driller also slowed production and cut spending by $2 billion in the fourth quarter in the Permian Basin share play. That spending pause is part of the company's goal of generating $9 billion in free cash flow in 2026, up from $2.7 billion at the end of the first quarter, said Wirth. In the May 2 trading session, the West Texas Intermediate oil prices fell 73 cents to $59.71. Natural gas prices at Henry Hub rose 16 cents to $3.64 per MMBtu. Chevron's shares rose 1.73 percent to close at $138.5 on the New York Stock Exchange.
Bloomberg
01-05-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Venezuela Pleads for China to Buy Oil as Trump Kicks Chevron Out
Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez asked Chinese officials to step up oil purchases during a visit to Beijing last week, as the nation seeks to preempt the US-ordered exit of Chevron Corp. and other foreign energy operators next month. Rodríguez, who also runs Venezuela's energy ministry, met with Chinese Vice President Han Zheng and China National Petroleum Corp. Chairman Dai Houliang in Beijing on Thursday and Friday of last week, according to Chinese state media. During the meetings, Rodríguez asked China to increase oil purchases and help provide the diluent and light crude needed to process and export Venezuela's tar-like oil, according to people briefed on the matter.
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
On trial in landmark R.I. climate change lawsuit: the meaning of ‘and/or'
Chevron Corp. is one of 21 oil and gas companies named in a 2018 lawsuit brought by Rhode Island's attorney general. Oral arguments will be heard Tuesday, April 15, 2025. (Photo by) Rhode Island's seven-year legal battle against fossil fuel companies has amassed thousands of pages of documents across multiple courts. But what lawyers will argue in a Tuesday morning hearing in Newport County Superior Court focuses on a single phrase: 'and/or.' Lawyers for Chevron Corp., one of the 21 oil and gas companies named in the 2018 state complaint, want the case tossed on the grounds that the state failed to investigate a key claim in its climate change lawsuit. The challenge filed by then-Attorney General Peter Kilmartin seeks damages from fossil fuel companies on the assertion that for each company, 'a substantial portion of fossil fuel products are or have been extracted, refined, transported, traded, distributed, marketed, promoted, manufactured, sold, and/or consumed in Rhode Island.' 'The State does not present a scintilla of evidence concerning what it knew or whether it conducted any investigation into these facts in 2018 when it filed its Complaint,' Gerald Petros, partner with Providence firm Hinckley Allen & Snyder LLP who is representing Chevron Corp. wrote in a Feb. 7 filing in Newport County Superior Court. Los Angeles-based Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP is also representing the company in court proceedings. And, according to Petros, there is no evidence of any oil production or refinement in Rhode Island, as confirmed by the state's own Office of Energy Resources website as well as the U.S. Department of Energy. The state offers a different interpretation. 'The phrase 'and/or' makes paragraph 21(g)'s meaning plain: The State alleges that a substantial portion of Chevron's fossil-fuel products are involved in some combination of the in-state activities listed in the sentence — not necessarily all of those activities,' Matthew Edling, a partner with San Francisco-based Sher Edling LLP that joined with the AG's office on the complaint, wrote in a March 21 response. 'The State did not allege that each of the listed activities individually and independently accounted for a substantial portion of Chevron's fossil fuel business in Rhode Island. That is why the State used the phrase 'and/or,' rather than the word 'and' by itself.' The dispute over word choice marks the latest twist in a long and winding saga of the landmark climate action lawsuit. Rhode Island was the first state in the country to sue fossil fuel companies, setting off a wave of similar attempts by other states, cities and counties to use the courts to force oil and gas companies to take responsibility for their part in climate change. The initial 2019 ruling by Providence Superior Court Judge William E. Smith triggered a series of jurisdictional appeals by the fossil fuel companies that weren't resolved until April 2023, when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up the companies' petition to have the case heard in federal court. After the case returned to state court, Chevron took issue with the wording of the state's initial complaint. Both sides verbally agreed in June 204 that they needed more information around the nature of fossil fuel companies' activities and business in Rhode Island, according to Edling's response in court. Chevron led negotiations for all the named fossil fuel companies, proposing a voluntary agreement around information sharing on Oct. 3, 2024, Edling wrote. The state accepted the offer and returned a signed copy to Chevron the next month, only for Chevron to request new conditions to the agreement. The state pushed back and Chevron pulled out of the agreement. By Dec. 13, 2024, Chevron sent the state a letter challenging the paragraph about local impacts of oil production and refinement and demanding the state produce evidence to show Chevron's local activities. A formal motion to toss the entire lawsuit was filed in Newport County Superior Court in February. The language spat around 'and/or' lays the framework for a more significant allegation regarding the state's own court rules. Under Chapter 11 of the Superior Court Rules of Civil Procedure, any papers or documents submitted by attorneys in any case must have a factual basis — meaning existing evidence or the likelihood of evidence once an investigation is conducted. Chevron's lawyers allege that the state never attempted to investigate or prove its claims regarding the existence of oil production or refinement in Rhode Island at all, rendering its claims 'baseless,' 'frivolous,' and in violation of court procedural rules. That the lawsuit relies on the exact same wording for all companies named further suggests lack of research, according to the Feb. 7 filing. 'These shotgun allegations beg credulity: did fourteen separate companies all engage in identical activities in Rhode Island?' the motion states. The state, in turn, points to the six-year span between when its lawsuit was filed, and when the oil and gas company raised questions about procedural violations. 'Chevron has wasted months of the State's time and resources, and now it wastes the Court's,' Edling wrote in the March 21 response on behalf of the state. 'These shotgun allegations beg credulity: did fourteen separate companies all engage in identical activities in Rhode Island?' – From the Feb. 7 motion filed by attorneys for Chevron Corp. in the state climate change lawsuit The state also listed examples of Chevron's historic and ongoing activities in Rhode Island as proof of the factual basis for its case. From the early 20th century until the 1980s, Chevron owned and operated a fuel terminal off Veterans Memorial Parkway in East Providence. Chevron has filed annual reports for its business in Rhode Island with the Rhode Island Department of State through 2024, while selling gas from its Philadelphia refinery into Cumberland Farms gas stations, among others, according to evidence submitted by the state. Three days later, on March 24, the state filed another motion seeking to force Chevron and the other companies named as plaintiffs to hand over evidence detailing sales at local gas stations, natural gas business activities and advertising in Rhode Island. The hearing Tuesday morning before Rhode Island Associate Justice William E. Carnes includes oral arguments over Chevron's push to toss the case, and the state's motion to compel companies to provide more evidence on business activity and sales in Rhode Island. An additional hearing is scheduled before Carnes on May 8, according to the public docket. Judges in four other states, including New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware and New York have tossed similar state, county or city-level challenges against fossil fuel companies. But dozens more remain under consideration in state-level courts across the country, including in Massachusetts. And in March, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up the bid led by Republican state attorneys general that would have blocked these lawsuits from proceeding. Theodore Boutrous, an attorney with Gibson, Dunn, and Crutcher LLP representing Chevron, pointed to the dismissals of similar lawsuits in other state courts when asked for comment. 'These claims are based on interstate and international emissions and, therefore, are precluded and preempted by federal law under clear U.S. Supreme Court precedent,' Boutros said in an emailed statement Monday. 'As the New Jersey Superior Court held in dismissing New Jersey's similar state lawsuit, 'the leading and most persuasive case supporting dismissal is the Second Circuit decision in City of New York. There, the federal appeals court rejected the availability of state tort law in the climate change context.'' Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha maintained the state was on 'the right side of the law.' 'It's rich, pun intended, that Big Oil would suggest that our case isn't well-grounded in fact, considering that the harsh realities of climate change are presenting themselves all around us while these companies turn a blind eye in order to protect their profits,' Neronha said in a statement Monday. 'Look, semantics aside, oil and gas companies must be held responsible for lying and causing great damage to the people of Rhode Island, Americans generally, and the environment. We believe we are on the right side of the law here, and we will make that clear tomorrow in court.' Meanwhile, lawmakers in 10 states, including Rhode Island, are considering legislation that would force fossil fuel companies to pay recovery costs for climate-related disasters. Rhode Island's proposed 'Climate Superfund' bill would allow the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management to bill companies that 'engaged in the trade or business of extracting or refining fossil fuels,' based on what the state or municipalities spent on climate mitigation since 2009. Any company responsible for emitting or producing at least 1 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions between 1990 and 2024 would be subject to review and potential repayment to state and local entities, according to the bills cosponsored by Democratic Rep. Jennifer Boylan of Barrington, and Sen. Linda Ujifusa of Portsmouth. Similar policies were adopted by lawmakers in Vermont and New York last year. Boylan described the proposal as a parallel way to recoup damages from big polluters, rather than an alternative to the state's ongoing climate action lawsuit. 'Both are important,' Boylan said in an interview on Monday. It's rich, pun intended, that Big Oil would suggest that our case isn't well-grounded in fact, considering that the harsh realities of climate change are presenting themselves all around us while these companies turn a blind eye in order to protect their profits. – Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha Rhode Island is staring down a projected $250 million budget deficit for its upcoming fiscal year, alongside potentially disastrous cuts to federal funding. That makes additional revenue sources especially important to pay for projects that protect against sea level rise, flooding and other climate change-induced disasters, Boylan said. 'Every day that we wait, the amount we're spending on climate mitigation is getting bigger and bigger,' Boylan said. 'It's not just about having oil rigs or being near the coast. It's really catastrophic, unprecedented weather, and you combine that with sea level rise, it's a real problem.' Boylan's and Ujifusa's bills remain under consideration by committees in their chambers, following initial hearings in February and March, respectively. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Bloomberg
11-04-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Chevron Ordered to U-Turn Venezuela Oil Ships Ahead of Sanctions
Chevron Corp. was ordered to return nearly 1 million barrels of Venezuelan oil to Petroleos de Venezuela SA in a blow to the oil major, which was working to secure crude before wrapping up operations in the country when a US sanctions deadline hits in May. Venezuela's state producer Petroleos de Venezuela, known as PDVSA ordered Chevron to return the ships Carina Voyager and Dubai Attraction, currently off the country's coast, to port and discharge their load, according to people with knowledge of the situation.
