Chevron To Spend $75 Billion On Share Buybacks

Chevron will allocate $75 billion for share repurchases, effective April 1, without an expiration date, the company said, as it declared a quarterly dividend of $1.51 per share.

The new share repurchase sums will replace the previous buyback budget of the supermajor, which stood at $25 billion and will be effective until March this year.

“Repurchases of shares of the company’s common stock may be made from time to time in the open market, by block purchases, in privately negotiated transactions or in such other manner as determined by the company,” Chevron said.

Chevron is reporting 2022 financial results on Friday, but analysts have calculated that, together with peer Exxon, the supermajor could have raked in some $100 billion in profits on the back of robust oil prices.

Chevron posted its highest-ever quarterly profits for the second quarter, thanks to high oil and gas prices and tight fuel markets driving multi-year high refining margins. For Q3, Chevron recorded its second-highest quarterly profit ever on the back of increased oil and gas demand and increased U.S. production. 

The supermajor has allocated $14 billion for capital expenditure this year, in line with its “long-term plans to safely deliver higher returns and lower carbon,” per chief executive Mike Wirth.

These plans also appear to involve a concentration of Chevron’s international operations at home and in South America. The company has been offloading assets in the UK, Denmark, and Brazil in the past few years, focusing on shale at home and activities in the Gulf of Mexico. Some $4 billion of its 2023 capex is earmarked for operations in the Permian.

The supermajor is also planning to spend on operations in Argentina and Canada this year. Some 70 percent of its planned budget will be poured into the U.S. and these two countries.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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