Chevron posts a profit, raises dividend as oil price recovery lifts quarterly results

Chevron posts a profit, raises dividend as oil price recovery lifts quarterly results

Employees during a press visit to the first shale gas exploring site started by Chevron in Pungesti, Romania, April 2014.

After a brutal year for the energy sector, Chevron reported a profit for the first quarter of 2021 as a recovery in oil prices boosted operations. The company's results were still far below pre-pandemic levels.

The oil giant said it earned an adjusted 90 cents per share during the period, with revenue coming in at $32.03 billion. EPS was in-line with what analysts surveyed by Refinitiv were expecting, while revenue was slightly ahead of the expected $30.37 billion estimates.

Net income stood at $1.377 billion, down 62% year over year. Last quarter, Chevron posted a $665 million loss.

"Earnings strengthened primarily due to higher oil prices as the economy recovers," Mike Wirth, Chevron's chairman and chief executive officer, said in a statement.

He noted that results were down from a year ago due to factors including downstream margin and volume effects from the pandemic, as well as the aftermath of winter storm Uri, which battered the southern United States in February.

Chevron's oil-equivalent production dropped 4% year over year to 3.12 million barrels per day. The company's upstream operations in the U.S. earned $941 million during the first