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Chevron sees major drop in 4th-quarter earnings
2009-01-08
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Chevron Corp (CVX.N) expects its fourth-quarter earnings to be significantly lower than the previous quarter due to the impact of lower oil and gas prices on its upstream business. The second-largest U.S. oil and gas company also said on Thursday its U.S. oil-equivalent production in October and November was 608,000 barrels per day, down from 647,000 the previous quarter and 730,000 in the fourth quarter of 2007. U.S. crude oil prices averaged about $59 a barrel in the fourth quarter, down by a third from the year before and well below the $147 record seen in July. Chevron said its international oil-equivalent production in the first two months of the fourth quarter rose to 1.92 million barrels per day from 1.80 million the prior quarter and it expects upstream earnings to benefit by about $625 million from an asset-exchange transaction. Because market conditions had changed significantly, Chevron delayed the unveiling of 2009 capital spending plans until later this month from December. It made $15.8 billion in capital and exploratory expenditures in the first nine months of 2008, out of $22.9 billion budgeted in December 2007. (Reporting by Braden Reddall; Editing by Andre Grenon)
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