The high prices for oil and natural gas brought the US company Chevron 2022 the highest profit in its history. The surplus was around 35.5 billion US dollars (32.6 billion euros), more than twice as high as in the previous year, as the oil and gas company announced on Friday in San Ramon, California.
In the fourth quarter, however, the increase weakened significantly: At just under 6.4 billion dollars, Chevron was only a good quarter more than in the same period last year. The stock was down about 1 percent in pre-market trading.
Analysts had expected significantly higher profits in oil and gas production. However, depreciation in the division ate at the result. A few days ago, Chevron launched a billion-dollar share buyback program: From April, the group wants to buy back its own paper worth $75 billion. Chevron is also raising its quarterly dividend for shareholders by a further 6 percent to $1.51. This means that the dividend has increased for the 36th year in a row, the company said.
Oil and gas prices rose sharply last year as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Only after a few months did the situation ease up a bit. US President Joe Biden has meanwhile called on the oil companies to put more money into production instead of dividends and share buybacks.
