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Chevron ( CVX ) maintains dividend and share buyback strategy

despite

lower crude prices

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Production flat year-over-year, impacted by asset sales

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Chevron's ( CVX ) Q1 oil and gas earnings drop from previous year

By Sheila Dang

HOUSTON, May 2 (Reuters) - Chevron ( CVX ) on Friday

reported first-quarter earnings that met Wall Street estimates,

as the company saw a turnaround in its refining business from a

loss late last year.

The company's chief financial officer, Eimear Bonner, said

Chevron's ( CVX ) share repurchases this year could be between $11.5

billion and $13 billion, which would be within its guidance of

$10 billion to $20 billion.

The second-largest U.S. oil producer posted adjusted

earnings of $3.8 billion during the three months ended March 31,

or $2.18 per share, matching analyst estimates, according to

LSEG data.

Refining and oil and gas production profits were down from a

year ago, but the refining profit was a significant improvement

from the previous quarter, when Chevron's ( CVX ) downstream operations

reported the first loss in four years.

Chevron ( CVX ) and other oil producers have been contending with

falling crude prices since April 2, when U.S. President Donald

Trump announced sweeping tariffs that are expected to reduce

global economic growth.

The lower crude prices have raised questions about whether

producers will meet their goals for paying dividends and

repurchasing shares - a cornerstone of Big Oil's strategy to woo

investors - or cut capital expenditure budgets.

Chevron ( CVX ) said it paid $3 billion in dividends and repurchased

$3.9 billion in shares during the quarter.

In the second quarter, the company said it expects to

repurchase between $2 billion and $3.5 billion in shares. If

rolled forward, that would mean Chevron ( CVX ) could land between $11.5

billion and $13 billion in repurchases for 2025, Bonner said in

an interview.

"We're still buying back a significant amount of our shares

annually, on top of a dividend that's growing faster than our

peers," she said.

Chevron's ( CVX ) global oil production totaled 3.35 million

barrels of oil equivalent per day, flat from the same period

last year.

The company completed an expansion at the Tengiz oilfield in

Kazakhstan in January and grew production from the Permian

basin, the top U.S. oilfield, by 12% year-over-year. Those gains

were offset by loss of production from asset sales.

Chevron ( CVX ) also started production at the Ballymore project in

the U.S. Gulf of Mexico in April.

Operations at Tengiz have been in focus as Kazakhstan has

repeatedly exceeded OPEC+ oil production quotas. Bonner said the

company is operating unrestricted.

During the first quarter, Chevron ( CVX ) was hit by a Trump

administration order to wind down operations in Venezuela, which

will impact the company's second-quarter shipments from the

country.

Earnings from oil and gas production were $3.76 billion,

down from $5.24 billion in the year-ago quarter.

Chevron's ( CVX ) refining business earned $325 million, down from

$783 million a year ago. But that represents a turnaround from

the previous quarter when it reported a loss for the first time

since 2020, as a post-pandemic surge in demand for fuel faded.