Chevron on Friday posted a $6.6 billion loss in the fourth quarter due to $10.4 billion worth of write-offs related to shale gas production in Appalachia and deep-water projects in the Gulf of Mexico. In December, the company warned that this charge would be $10 billion to $11 billion.
Shares slid 3.85% on Friday after the company reported $36.35 billion in revenue for the period, which missed analyst expectations and was down 14% year over year, hurt by weakness in the company's upstream division.
Chevron said it earned $1.49 per share excluding items, down from $1.95 per share a year earlier.
Here's how the energy giant's results fared on an adjusted basis relative to Wall Street expectations:
- Adjusted earnings: $1.49 cents per share vs. $1.45 expected by a Refinitiv survey of analysts
- Revenue: $36.35 billion vs. $38.639 billion expected by Refinitiv
A year earlier, the company earned $3.7 billion. Total earnings for 2019 slid 80%, to $2.924 billion, compared with $14.824 billion in 2018.
Oil-equivalent production at 3.08 million barrels per day was unchanged year over year, although the company said its annual daily production exceeded 3 million barrels per day for the first time.
The company's upstream operations in the U.S. lost $7.5 billion in the quarter, down from earnings of $964 million a year earlier. That was primarily due to $8.2 billion in write-offs related to Appalachia and Gulf of Mexico operations, as well as lower crude and natural gas prices.
Chevron said the average sale price per barrel of oil and natural gas liquids was $47, a 16% decrease from 2018.
"Cash flow from operations remained strong in 2019, allowing the company to deliver on all our financial priorities, "Chairman and CEO Michael Wirth said in a statement. "We paid $9 billion in dividends, repurchased $4 billion of shares, funded our capital program and successfully captured several inorganic investment opportunities, all while reducing debt by more than $7 billion. Earlier this week, we announced a quarterly dividend increase of $0.10 per share, reinforcing our commitment to growing shareholder returns."
In the same quarter a year earlier the company reported EPS of $1.95 and revenue of $42.35 billion. Last quarter, the company earned $1.36 per share, and brought in $36.12 billion in revenue.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude prices are down more than 15% this month, while international benchmark Brent crude has shed roughly 12%.