Chevron reported sharply lower Q1 2026 earnings during its investor call May 1, weighed down by a $2.9 billion charge related to financial hedges and inventory accounting adjustments. Excluding those factors, earnings rose, helped by higher oil and gas production and stronger refining margins.
Global oil and gas production of 3.85 MMboe/d was about 500 Mboe/d higher than the year-ago quarter, largely due to its acquisition of Hess and growth in the U.S. Gulf and the Permian Basin, partly offset by downtime at the company’s 50%-owned affiliate Tengizchevroil in Kazakhstan and curtailments in the Middle East. U.S. production exceeded 2 MMboe/d for the third consecutive quarter. U.S. refinery crude unit throughput remained over 1 MMb/d for the fifth consecutive quarter and achieved a record in March.
Chevron continued to refine its position in Venezuela, agreeing to an asset swap with state-owned PDVSA in April. It took a 30% working interest in the Ayacucho 8 block (green box in map below), which expands its contiguous position with the Petopriar block (blue box), which it said offered operating and development synergies along with long-term growth potential and optionality. It also increased its equity stake to 49% in the Petroindependencia joint venture (dark-blue-shaded area) that it has participated in for more than 15 years. As part of the swap, it gave up its 25.2% non-operated interest in the Petroindependiente joint venture (red-shaded area to left) and two offshore gas licenses, including in the Loran gas field (red-shaded area to right).
“Current operations (in Venezuela) are running smoothly. We’re still in debt recovery mode and expect Venezuela to continue to represent 1%-2% of cash flow from operations,” CEO Mike Wirth said. “This transaction is expected to improve resource depth and integration upside, supporting potential growth into the future.”
