Chevron Corp

Technology and energy emerged as the two most consequential sector stories of the first nine months of 2026, with the S&P 500 gaining 11.4% and the Nasdaq Composite up 15.6% even as the 10-year Treasury yield moved above 5% and Brent crude gained about 40% in the third quarter. According to the Zacks Earnings Trend report dated Sept. 30, the tech sector is expected to post 42.1% earnings growth in the third quarter of 2026, with semiconductor earnings projected to surge 85.5% on 62.8% revenue growth; that growth would moderate to 29.6% excluding semiconductors and to 20.6% excluding NVIDIA, Micron and Alphabet. NVIDIA's fiscal second-quarter 2027 revenues rose 106% year over year, with Data Center revenues jumping 117%, while Micron reported fiscal fourth-quarter 2026 revenue growth of 379.3% year over year, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 6.33%, with EPS of $33.42 topping the estimate by 5.73%. On the energy side, Middle East disruptions pushed Brent above $100 per barrel during September, and Zacks expects Energy earnings to surge 111.8% in the third quarter, the sector's most pronounced upgrade to its earnings outlook since the quarter began. Chevron reported $12 billion in second-quarter 2026 adjusted earnings, its highest quarterly profit in six years, with upstream earnings rising 200% to $8.2 billion and U.S. production reaching a record nearly 2.1 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, while Exxon Mobil reported $14.7 billion in second-quarter adjusted earnings, $23.6 billion in operating cash flow and $17.2 billion in free cash flow.

Venezuela's oil exports fell nearly 9% in September to 1.08 million barrels per day as soaring tanker costs forced traders to demand steeper discounts and delayed cargoes leaving the country. Global trading houses including Vitol and Trafigura pressed PDVSA for better terms as freight costs chewed into margins, and tanker reroutings added to shipping delays that had already accumulated over the summer. The United States took more Venezuelan crude despite the overall decline, with shipments rising to 629,000 bpd from 553,000 bpd in August, while India fell to 253,000 bpd from 297,000 bpd and European purchases plunged to 86,000 bpd from 260,000 bpd. Chevron shipped about 283,000 bpd, roughly unchanged from August, and trading firms moved 637,000 bpd, up from 597,000 bpd. The figures landed as more than 250 companies descended on Caracas for Venezuela's next round of oil development, with Chevron pledging more than $7 billion over five years to more than double its Venezuelan production to roughly 600,000 bpd, and Rystad Energy estimating Venezuelan production could reach 1.6 million bpd by 2028 and 1.8 million bpd by 2030, though the country had just two active drilling rigs as of August against an estimated need for around 50 rigs by 2028 and nearly 80 by 2030.

Chevron closed at $207.10, up 1.42% from the prior session, outpacing the S&P 500's 0.2% gain as the Dow rose 0.04% and the Nasdaq added 0.04%. The oil company is expected to report earnings per share of $4.89 for its upcoming quarter, a 164.32% increase from the prior-year quarter, on revenue of $57 billion, representing 14.64% growth. For the full year, consensus estimates project earnings of $16.98 per share and revenue of $232.5 billion, changes of +132.92% and +22.99% respectively from the prior year. Over the past month, the consensus EPS estimate has moved 4.6% higher, and Chevron holds a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy). The stock trades at a forward P/E of 12.02, a premium to its industry's 7.94, with a PEG ratio of 0.58 versus the industry average of 0.62.

Trago Energy Pty Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Custos Energy (Pty) Ltd., has agreed to transfer its 10% participating interest in Petroleum Exploration License 90 offshore Namibia to Harmattan Energy Limited, an affiliate of Chevron Corporation, for $11MM in cash at completion plus contingent consideration tied to appraisal and production milestones. Sintana Energy Inc., which holds a 49% indirect interest in Trago, said the contingent consideration includes revenues from commercial production currently estimated at between 1.5 and 2.5 MM barrels of oil, depending on commodity price assumptions. The deal leaves Trago with continued exposure to PEL 90 prospectivity, including the Nabba-1X exploration well, while eliminating its funding and capital risk; after completion Trago will hold no participating interest in the licence and will have no obligation to fund its share of costs. Completion remains subject to governmental, regulatory and third-party approvals, and Sintana said any upfront consideration net of costs, fees and taxes will support its corporate activities. PEL 90 covers approximately 5,433 km² in the Orange Basin and is operated by Chevron; its participants, adjusted for a recently announced but uncompleted farm-out to Equinor and prior to Trago's interest exchange, are Chevron with 35.1%, Qatar Energy with 27.5%, Equinor with 17.4%, the National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia with 10% and Trago with 10%. Upon completion, Custos will contribute N$10 million to the University of Namibia Foundation toward construction of UNAM's new campus in Walvis Bay.

Chevron holds a Zacks Earnings ESP of +4.60% and a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) heading into its next quarterly report, a combination that suggests another earnings beat may be around the corner. The oil company has beaten estimates in each of its last two reports, with an average surprise of 28.87%. In the last reported quarter, Chevron earned $6.06 per share against a Zacks Consensus Estimate of $5.8 per share, a surprise of 4.48%. In the prior quarter, it posted earnings of $1.41 per share versus an expected $0.92 per share, a surprise of 53.26%. Estimates have been trending higher, and Zacks research shows that stocks combining a positive Earnings ESP with a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) or better produce a positive surprise nearly 70% of the time.

Chevron Corporation is expanding robotics and remotely operated tools across its global field operations to improve safety, efficiency and data quality, with the company reporting more than $92 million in savings and over 143,000 at-risk hours eliminated across its robotics initiatives since 2024. Within that broader program, robotic tank inspections alone have saved more than $25 million and about 43,000 work hours since 2024, while robotic cleaning has generated more than $6 million in savings and reduced roughly 28,000 hours. Submersible inspection robots can examine tank bottoms without fully draining and venting equipment, limiting downtime and improving data quality, and Chevron has deployed such systems at multiple U.S. facilities including its El Segundo refinery in California. Beyond tanks, Chevron uses drones for visual and thermal inspections and emissions detection, is developing autonomous drone-in-a-box systems to reduce field visits, and deploys Spot robots to patrol facilities, inspect equipment and collect images that help maintenance teams flag potential issues earlier. Chevron's latest Form 10-Q does not separately quantify robotics benefits but identifies technology-enabled productivity as one contributor to its broader cost-reduction program and evolving operating model. Peers Shell and TotalEnergies are pursuing similar automation, with Shell using land, subsea and aerial systems including Sensabot and ExR-1, and TotalEnergies advancing its ARGOS autonomous inspection program through trials in the North Sea and Angola. Chevron currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Venezuela's oil and gas industry is drawing renewed interest from international energy companies, with fresh agreements involving major producers and oilfield service firms pointing to stepped-up development of the country's hydrocarbon resources. Eni and PDVSA signed a 25-year hydrocarbon participation contract on Sept. 2, 2026, making Eni the exclusive operator of the Junín-5 heavy-oil area, which holds 35 billion barrels of certified oil in place and currently produces approximately 12,000 barrels per day; the partners plan to invest approximately $1.5 billion annually, with production expected to reach around 400,000 barrels per day by 2030. Chevron announced updated agreements on Sept. 2, 2026, covering its Venezuelan joint ventures and additional acreage in the Orinoco Belt, underpinning plans to invest more than $7 billion over the next five years and more than double production to approximately 600,000 barrels per day versus 2026 levels, after output from its three Venezuelan joint ventures rose 15% through the second quarter of 2026. TotalEnergies and PDVSA signed a memorandum of understanding on Sept. 19, 2026, setting a framework for energy cooperation, though scope and value were not disclosed, while Halliburton announced MOUs with Eneva and WESCA on Sept. 21, 2026, to support field evaluation and development planning in Venezuela. Over the past year, Eni shares have advanced 55.4%, while TotalEnergies, Halliburton and Chevron have gained 43.3%, 29.3% and 31.5%, respectively, as crude oil held above $90 per barrel.

Chevron and ExxonMobil have each signed separate agreements with Petrovietnam and its refining subsidiary covering potential crude and energy supply to Vietnam. Petrovietnam and Chevron signed a framework cooperation agreement covering potential cooperation in crude oil, liquefied natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas and refinery feedstock, and BSR separately stated it had signed crude oil supply agreements with Chevron. Separately, Petrovietnam Refining and Petrochemical Corporation, known as BSR, signed a crude oil supply framework agreement with ExxonMobil Asia Pacific for the Dung Quat Refinery in central Vietnam, expected to help secure a minimum crude oil supply of 2 million barrels per year for the refinery. In 2025, Dung Quat Refinery imported approximately 8.28 million metric tons of crude oil, with imported crude accounting for about 31% of total feedstock, and for 2026 BSR expects imported crude to represent approximately 15% of its feedstock. Since the beginning of 2026, the refinery has tested three additional crude types, bringing its total processing capability to 40 grades, including 12 domestic and 28 imported grades, and it can process Nigeria's Erha crude at a maximum blending ratio of approximately 45% by volume. The financial value and detailed delivery schedule of the ExxonMobil agreement have not been disclosed, and the agreements do not yet provide enough information to assess their direct financial impact on Chevron or ExxonMobil.

Energy stocks rose in pre-market trading after President Donald Trump rejected an Iranian proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, sending crude oil prices sharply higher. International benchmark Brent crude climbed more than 3% to top $107 a barrel, according to Reuters, extending supply concerns across a chokepoint that historically handles a fifth of global petroleum shipments. Chevron, Exxon Mobil, and the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund traded higher in pre-market indications, while refiners Valero Energy, Marathon Petroleum, and Phillips 66 advanced overnight alongside rising diesel futures. Among individual movers, U.S. shale exploration and production company Crescent Energy jumped 2.6%, and mixed or offshore upstream exploration and production company Kosmos Energy jumped 2.8%. Sustained crude above $100 expands cash-flow projections for upstream producers, according to Bloomberg, but refiners face headwinds after Trump said the administration is considering a ban on diesel exports to lower domestic fuel costs, which could force refinery run cuts, according to Reuters.

Chevron Corporation and Egypt are working to accelerate the agreements and procedures needed to connect Cyprus' Aphrodite natural gas field to Egyptian infrastructure. Egyptian petroleum minister Karim Badawi and Chevron's president of Base Assets and Emerging Countries, Javier La Rosa, discussed the technical, financial and commercial frameworks required to finalize the project, with Egypt seeking to speed up the remaining procedures. Aphrodite, located in Cyprus' offshore Block 12, was discovered in 2011 and holds approximately 98 billion cubic meters of contingent resources, with potential for an additional 26 billion cubic meters of prospective resources; the development plan calls for four production wells linked to a floating production unit, with gas transported to Egypt for processing. An agreement signed in April calls for Egypt's EGAS to import the full production from Aphrodite, with around 100 billion cubic meters of gas expected to be supplied over 15 years. Beyond Aphrodite, Chevron and Egyptian officials discussed expanding the company's natural gas exploration activities in the Mediterranean, particularly in the Western Mediterranean, and Chevron reaffirmed its commitment to maintaining investments and activities in Egypt.

Chevron Corporation is raising its exploration budget by more than 50% versus 2025 and plans to drill about 20 exploration wells next year, up from 10 wells two years ago, plus another five or six appraisal wells. Kevin McLachlan, who joined Chevron last year to lead the exploration arm, told the Financial Times that exploration spending is expected to exceed $1.5 billion in 2026, compared with just under $1 billion last year. The company has secured exploration blocks in Brazil, Egypt, Guinea-Bissau, the Gulf of Mexico, Namibia, Peru, and Suriname, and its total exploration acreage has doubled since 2024. The push follows a period of weaker activity: Wood Mackenzie data cited by the Financial Times show Chevron's conventional exploration and appraisal spending fell 36% to $1.82 billion during 2021-2025 versus the prior five-year period, and proved reserves ended 2024 at a decade low of 9.8 billion barrels of oil equivalent before recovering to approximately 10.6 billion BOE at the end of 2025, mainly on the Hess acquisition and other reserve additions. Chevron paid $12.8 billion in dividends in 2025 and has cut capital expenditure guidance to $18 billion to $21 billion per year, while targeting adjusted free cash flow growth of more than 10% annually at $70 Brent.

Chevron Corporation has achieved $3 billion in annual run-rate structural cost reductions since 2024, reaching its target six months ahead of schedule, and now targets $3-$4 billion of structural cost reductions by the end of 2026. Management said more than 70% of these savings came from efficiency improvements, a distinction that matters because operational efficiencies persist beyond short-term spending cuts. In Chevron's shale operations, the company expects to spend 25% less capital per barrel of oil equivalent in 2026 compared with 2025, with savings largely offsetting inflationary pressures while production continues to grow across the Permian, Gulf of America and Guyana. The push includes portfolio optimization, greater use of technology and expanded use of global capability centers. Among peers, ExxonMobil Holdings Corporation has generated $16.3 billion in cumulative structural cost savings since 2019 and targets $20 billion by 2030, while Shell plc has delivered $700 million in savings so far in 2026 toward a broader $5 billion-$7 billion target that is already about halfway achieved, ahead of schedule.

HSBC upgraded BP and TotalEnergies to Buy from Hold on Friday, raising earnings and cash flow estimates across its global oil coverage after lifting its Brent crude, refining margin, and gas price forecasts. Analysts led by Kim Fustier raised their 2026 Brent assumption to approximately $90 per barrel from $80, and their 2027 forecast to $85 from $65, citing a partial, gradual recovery in Strait of Hormuz flows, while also raising the second-half 2026 TTF gas price forecast to $22.5 per million British thermal units from $16.7 and the 2027 forecast to $17 from $12. The revisions lifted HSBC's 2026-28 earnings-per-share estimates across the sector by averages of 19%, 65% and 33%, respectively, with cash flow per share estimates rising by averages of 12%, 30% and 14%, and the largest revisions falling on international majors given their combined upstream, refining and trading exposure. For BP, HSBC raised its price target to 640 pence from 570 pence, implying nearly 18% upside, and for TotalEnergies it raised its target to €93 from €80, implying 18.4% upside. HSBC retained Buy ratings on Shell, Repsol and Chevron, raising Chevron's price target to $250 from $218 and expecting it to lift its annual buyback run rate to $15 billion from $10-12 billion, while Eni, Equinor, Galp and ExxonMobil stayed at Hold and OMV remained at Reduce.

Chevron plans to begin seismic research in offshore blocks around Greece by the end of this year, country manager Beatrice Bienvenu told Greek energy minister Stavros Papastavrou during a meeting in New York. The survey will cover the Ionian Sea and areas south of the Peloponnese and Crete. Chevron earlier this year acquired a 70% stake from Helleniq Energy in an offshore block southwest of the Ionian Sea, and a Chevron-led consortium also secured exclusive lease agreements to explore for natural gas across three additional deep-sea blocks off the Peloponnese and Crete. The Chevron and Helleniq Energy agreements cover four offshore blocks — South Crete 1, South Crete 2, South of Peloponnese and Block A2 — spanning approximately 47,000 square kilometers in total. The seismic work is an initial step rather than a move toward immediate commercial production, and the joint venture has outlined a three-phase exploration program covering seismic data acquisition, exploratory drilling and reservoir analysis. Chevron already holds active natural gas fields in Israel and interests in Egypt and Cyprus, and the Greek campaign extends that Eastern Mediterranean footprint.

Chevron is expected to post earnings of $4.89 per share for the current quarter, a year-over-year change of +164.3%, with the Zacks Consensus Estimate rising +3.7% over the last 30 days. For the current fiscal year, the consensus earnings estimate of $16.52 points to a change of +126.6% from the prior year and has moved +2.2% over the past month, while the next fiscal year's estimate of $14.67 indicates a -11.2% change and has risen +3.8% over the past month. The consensus sales estimate of $55.07 billion for the current quarter points to a year-over-year change of +10.7%, with the $229.69 billion and $217.28 billion estimates for the current and next fiscal years indicating changes of +21.5% and -5.4%, respectively. Chevron reported revenues of $70.06 billion in the last reported quarter, a year-over-year change of +56.3%, and EPS of $6.06 versus $1.77 a year ago, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $57.53 billion by +21.78% on revenue with an EPS surprise of +4.48%. The recent change in the consensus estimate along with three other earnings-estimate factors has resulted in a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) for Chevron, and the stock is graded A on the Zacks Value Style Score.

Chevron announced updated agreements covering its Venezuelan joint ventures, including additional acreage in the Orinoco Belt, and plans to invest more than $7 billion over the next five years. The company expects production from its Venezuelan ventures to more than double to approximately 600,000 barrels per day, with total production costs below $20 per barrel. The move comes as U.S. imports of Venezuelan crude jumped by 183,000 barrels per day in the week ended Sept. 11 to 782,000 barrels per day, the highest weekly total since August 2017, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Over the past six months, Venezuelan imports have increased by 550,000 barrels per day, or 237%, while the three-month average reached 626,000 barrels per day. President Trump has said he will use Venezuelan oil to help refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and the Sept. 11 Federal Register lists Chevron among companies authorized to conduct specified Venezuela-related activities. Chevron reported second-quarter revenue of $70 billion, earnings of $12 billion, or $6.06 per share on an adjusted basis, and adjusted free cash flow of $15.4 billion, while its board declared a quarterly dividend of $1.78 per share.

Chevron and ExxonMobil both used the Gastech conference in Bangkok to announce expanded liquefied natural gas goals, betting that long-term global demand growth will continue despite supply disruptions. Chevron's President of Global Gas, Freeman Shaheen, told Reuters the company is eyeing expansion on four continents — Argentina, the eastern Mediterranean, Africa, and Australia — and will have approximately 20 million metric tons of LNG supply capacity, split between 16 million tons of net production from its own projects and 4 million tons contracted from the US Gulf Coast, a deal that began ramping up in February. ExxonMobil's senior vice president for LNG, Peter Clarke, told Bloomberg the company is raising its 2030 LNG sales forecast to approximately 50 million tons per year, up from a previous aim of 40 million tons, a larger figure reflecting its existing footprint including the Golden Pass export terminal in Texas and projects in Papua New Guinea and Mozambique. The two companies are already partners in Australia, where Chevron operates the Gorgon LNG project with a 47.3% stake and ExxonMobil owns 25%, even as they compete for customers and growth opportunities elsewhere. Neither announcement included a specific capital figure or project-level commitment, so both should be read as strategic direction rather than verified spending plans, with the real test being which projects convert from stated ambition to sanctioned, funded developments over the next few quarters.

Chevron chairman and chief executive Mike Wirth said publicly that he does not see how oil prices come down quickly, warning that the mechanisms that absorbed the earlier oil supply shock have largely been used up and that risks remain to the upside over the next few months. Speaking at a University of Texas at Austin energy conference on September 11, Wirth said strategic reserve releases, commercial inventory drawdowns and eased restrictions on sanctioned crude stored at sea had all played out, and the loss of flexibility became more acute after attacks knocked out a major Saudi crude pipeline bypassing the Strait of Hormuz, putting an estimated 2.5 million barrels of oil per day in limbo. The average U.S. diesel price crossed $6 per gallon for the first time on September 10 and had hit a record $6.23 a gallon by the time Wirth spoke, while gasoline was back up to about $4.32 a gallon after slipping below $4 during the summer. Brent crude for November 2026 delivery traded near $105 a barrel around the conference and West Texas Intermediate was just above $100, up about 50% from roughly $70 before the Iran war started in late February, with China's return to the international market adding demand pressure. President Trump said on September 9 that oil prices would come down right after the election, tying the timeline to the November midterms, while Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has called the latest supply disruption temporary and pointed to expanded Venezuelan output and U.S. refining capacity as near-term offsets.

Chevron plans to more than double the number of oil rigs it operates in Venezuela, CFO Eimear Bonner said at a Barclays conference on September 8, part of a five-year plan to increase output. The rig expansion follows Chevron's announcement that its joint venture partnerships in Venezuela would invest more than $7 billion to more than double oil output to 600,000 barrels per day by 2031, up from roughly 290,000 barrels per day currently produced by its three Venezuelan JVs, all of which is exported to the United States. The move builds on Chevron's longstanding presence in Venezuela, where it has operated since 1923 and was the only American oil major to keep operating under a special US license despite sanctions. It comes alongside a larger agreement between Washington and Caracas announced this month that gave the US majority control over around 20% of Venezuela's proven crude reserves, with the White House inviting American oil companies to revive and modernize the country's oil infrastructure. Chevron expects to keep total production costs below $20 per barrel, though the company still faces political instability, nationalization risk, and dilapidated oil infrastructure in the country.

Chevron has secured updated agreements in Venezuela, committing over US$7.0b to expand its Orinoco Belt footprint as global oil market buffers tighten and geopolitical risks keep crude prices elevated. The company's share price has climbed 21.85% over the past 90 days and 35.71% year to date, contributing to a 1-year total shareholder return of 38.45%. Chevron closed at $211.57, while the most followed narrative pegs fair value at $221.21 using a 7.24% discount rate, implying the stock is 4.4% undervalued. Record production growth, especially in the Permian and from the Hess acquisition in Guyana and the Bakken, positions Chevron to meet rising energy demand. Still, heavy dependence on long-lived oil projects and execution risk in places like Venezuela could quickly undermine the current undervaluation story.

ExxonMobil is close to signing a preliminary deal to explore investments in several Venezuelan oil fields, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday, which would mark a return to the country nearly two decades after its exit. Exxon could sign a memorandum of understanding with state-run PDVSA as soon as this month to explore a deal to invest in a number of developed and undeveloped fields that collectively contain 50B barrels of oil, according to the report. The company reportedly is interested in retaking control of two giant fields it previously held in the Orinoco Belt, Petrovictoria and Petromonagas, before they were nationalized in the mid-2000s, and securing rights to two additional fields in the nearby Carabobo region. Venezuela has said it has ~300B barrels of oil reserves, which would make its reserves the largest in the world. Exxon rival Chevron signed a deal earlier this month to invest $7B in Venezuela over five years through its joint ventures there, aiming to double its production to 600K bbl/day, and Harold Hamm's Continental Resources signed a preliminary deal Wednesday to explore an undeveloped oil field in the state of Anzoátegui.

Chevron's 20-year take-or-pay power purchase agreement with Microsoft for 2.67 GW of behind-the-meter capacity in West Texas, branded Project Kilby, is designed to deliver mid-teens returns and long duration contracted cash flows independent of commodity price cycles, a structure management calls a repeatable model. The company reported Q2 2026 adjusted EPS of $6.06 on revenue of $67.20 billion, up 51.4% year over year, with downstream earnings jumping to $4.87 billion from $737 million. Management hit $3 billion of structural cost cuts six months early and captured $1.5 billion of Hess synergies, 50% above the initial target, while debt fell $8.41 billion in the quarter alone. Chevron stock is up 46.85% year to date, brushing a 52-week high of $217.65, and trades at a trailing P/E of 20 versus ExxonMobil's 24. The bull case supports $238 within a year, while the bear path lands around $197.48.

Occidental Petroleum posted the largest analyst estimate beat among the five diversified upstream exploration and production stocks tracked, reporting $8.33 billion in revenue, up 57.1% year on year and 15.3% above consensus. As a group, the five diversified upstream E&P stocks beat analysts' consensus revenue estimates by 9.7% in an exceptional second quarter, and their share prices have risen 15.6% on average since the results. ExxonMobil reported $116 billion in revenue, up 42.3% year on year and 6.8% above expectations, while Chevron, the weakest performer against estimates in the group, reported $70.06 billion, up 56.3% and 6.2% ahead of consensus. Devon Energy delivered the fastest revenue growth among its peers at 67.4%, reaching $6.89 billion and topping expectations by 10.3%, and ConocoPhillips reported $19.52 billion, up 32.4% and 9.6% above estimates, the slowest growth in the group. Occidental Petroleum shares are up 17.9% since reporting and trade at $63.45, ExxonMobil is up 7.9% at $169.40, Chevron is up 13.1% at $217.43, Devon Energy is up 16.5% at $51.34, and ConocoPhillips is up 22.8% at $141.27.

Billionaire shale pioneer Harold Hamm's Continental Resources Inc. reached a deal to operate and develop the Ayacucho 2 Block in Venezuela's Orinoco Belt, as the Trump administration pushes US companies to revive the nation's oil sector. The Oklahoma City-based company said the block covers about 126,000 acres and holds an estimated 30 billion barrels. Continental signed a memorandum of understanding with Venezuela's state oil company and plans to have a long-term agreement in place within weeks. The agreement by Hamm, a significant donor to US President Donald Trump, adds to a slate of deals in recent weeks aimed at boosting Venezuela's crude production, including agreements announced by Chevron Corp., GE Vernova Inc. and Eni SpA alongside Wright and acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez at a signing ceremony in Caracas, as well as deals signed by Geopark Limited and privately held Aspect Holdings. Wright said the deals represent "tens of billions" worth of investments that marked a "transformation for Venezuela," though some analysts have questioned their durability given lingering concerns about contract sanctity in a nation with a history of nationalization.

A series of agreements between US and Vietnamese companies in sectors including energy, technology, aviation and finance are expected to be announced next week to coincide with the New York visit of Vietnam's top leader, Communist Party General Secretary and State President To Lam. The plans were revealed by officials and documents obtained by Reuters. An internal planning document lists 29 agreements that could be announced at a business conference in New York on the 23rd, which Lam will also attend. The contents of the document are subject to change, and it does not set out the specific details of the planned agreements. US energy companies Murphy Oil and Chevron are expected to announce agreements with Vietnamese state oil and gas company PetroVietnam, while ExxonMobil is expected to announce an agreement with PetroVietnam Refinery and Petrochemical, Vietnam's second-largest refinery. Vietjet, Vietnam's largest private airline, is expected to announce it will lease up to 22 aircraft from four leasing companies, comprising 17 Boeing 737s and five Airbus A321neos. SpaceX is also set to announce an agreement to provide its Starlink satellite internet service to 120 Vietjet aircraft. The planning document also includes an agreement between US-based Meta and Vietnam's Ministry of Culture, and one between US semiconductor giant Qualcomm and Vietnamese telecom company VNPT. Visa, Mastercard and Citibank are also expected to announce agreements with partners in Vietnam's domestic financial and hospitality services sectors.

Chevron CEO has warned that a global fuel crisis is already here, as supply fears clash with ongoing demand. The warning from the leadership of Chevron, one of the world's biggest integrated energy producers, comes as major oil producers flag that worldwide fuel markets have entered a tougher stretch. Tighter markets can lift crude prices, refining margins and cash generation for oil producers, a dynamic that could prove significant for Chevron and Exxon Mobil, both of which have spent years prioritizing capital discipline over output expansion at any cost. The flip side is that energy prices rising high enough to hurt consumer spending, raise transportation costs and push inflation higher could complicate interest rate decisions for central banks. For Chevron and Exxon stockholders, the next signal will be whether supply limitations keep crude and refined-product prices high, or whether sluggish economic activity starts to undermine demand.

Chevron outlined plans to expand its liquefied natural gas portfolio across Argentina, the East Mediterranean, Africa, and Australia, as Middle East supply disruptions affect global gas trade flows. Management is aiming to secure more diversified LNG volumes to support long term contracts with buyers in several international markets, spreading its gas exposure across multiple basins instead of relying heavily on the Middle East. The company operates a large integrated energy and chemicals platform, with LNG sitting alongside oil and refining activities that span multiple regions. Chevron currently holds 20 million metric tons per year of LNG capacity, and the expansion would add sanctioned capacity beyond that level. The key markers to watch over the next 12 to 24 months are progress on new LNG offtake agreements, sanctioned capacity additions beyond the current 20 million metric tons per year, and any disclosed capex or schedule revisions.

Costco has doubled the price of its full-synthetic motor oil and begun rationing purchases as crude oil pushes toward $100 a barrel. A 10-quart case that cost roughly $30 now runs $57.99, with purchases capped at two units per member per week. U.S. diesel crossed $6 a gallon for the first time this week, and global oil inventories have drawn down more than 500 million barrels since the U.S.-Iran conflict began. The pressure on Costco is more intense because its signature Kirkland oil carries GM's Dexos1 Gen 3 certification, which requires manufacturers to pay GM separately per product and per unit sold, eroding the DIY savings case. It is not just Costco: Mobil 1 is also capped, at five units, with six quarts running $44. The International Energy Agency cut its 2026 global oil supply forecast to 102 million barrels a day in August and now projects a third-quarter deficit of 1.8 million barrels a day, while Chevron CEO Mike Wirth said last week that the buffers that had cushioned prior price spikes are now exhausted.

Chevron CEO Mike Wirth said the emergency oil buffers that softened the market after the Iran conflict began have been largely depleted and cannot be repeated indefinitely, leaving crude vulnerable to fresh disruptions. He is backing that view with a Venezuela expansion aimed at more than doubling output there by early next decade, funded entirely with cash generated by Chevron's existing Venezuelan joint ventures. Output across the three joint ventures has already climbed from 40,000 to 250,000 barrels per day, and Wirth said Chevron is in negotiations to improve fiscal terms and enable more investment in Venezuela, with debt recovery expected to be complete by early 2027. Brent settled at $109.51 on September 9, 2026, well above the $61.35 close on December 31, 2025, while Chevron's Q2 adjusted EPS was $6.06 on revenue of $67.20 billion, up 51.43% year over year, with free cash flow of $18.10 billion and record worldwide production of 4,070 MBOED. CVX trades at $214.04, up 44.35% year to date, on a forward earnings multiple of 16x with a 3.28% dividend yield and a 39th consecutive annual dividend increase.

Chevron is expanding its global LNG ambitions as energy security returns to the center of investor attention. The company expects roughly 20 million metric tons per year of LNG supply capacity in 2026, including about 16 million tons from its own projects and another 4 million tons secured through U.S. Gulf Coast contracts. Management is mapping out potential LNG growth across Argentina, the Eastern Mediterranean, Australia and Africa, with India also emerging as a possible future market. Chevron is also seeing a shift in how customers buy gas, with some state-backed importers becoming more willing to work with portfolio suppliers instead of depending primarily on government-to-government arrangements. The shares traded at $214.275, about 32.2% above a GF Value estimate of $162.08, a premium that suggests the market is already pricing in strength from energy prices, cash generation and future LNG growth.

Chevron Australia expects liquefied natural gas prices to remain elevated over the next few months amid massive supply disruption from the Middle East. "I have a hard time seeing the prices come down" in the next six months or so, Balaji Krishnamurthy, Managing Director of Chevron Australia, told Bloomberg TV on Monday, adding that Australia's LNG is trading at a premium in Asia given its geographic proximity to the key demand center. Chevron operates two massive LNG projects in Australia: Gorgon, whose 15.6 million tons in capacity is the larger one and the largest in Australia as a whole, and Wheatstone, which can produce 8.9 million tons of liquefied natural gas annually; together the two account for about 5% of global LNG supply. The spot Asian LNG price for October delivery into northeast Asia jumped at the end of last week to the highest level since 2022 amid the re-escalation in the Middle East that further delayed any recovery of LNG flows out of the Strait of Hormuz. The average price for October delivery into northeast Asia reached $26.00 per million British thermal units on Friday, up from $25.70 per MMBtu at the end of the previous week, the highest spot LNG price in Asia since December 2022, as the lack of meaningful recovery in Middle Eastern flows and an intensified race between Asia and Europe for winter gas supply kept the market tight.

Microsoft has signed a twenty-year agreement with Chevron for a proposed 2.67-gigawatt natural gas power plant in West Texas, designed to supply dedicated off-grid electricity directly to a hyperscale data center in the Permian Basin. The project bypasses regional grid transmission queues to secure reliable power for continuous AI workloads, and Microsoft Cloud Operations and Innovation president Noelle Walsh said the deal helps ensure dedicated, large-scale power to support advanced compute. Chevron New Energies president Jeff Gustavson said the company is uniquely positioned to deliver power with certainty, speed and at a competitive cost, leveraging Permian natural gas. The arrangement drew praise from Jim Cramer on the September 3 episode of Mad Money, who called it the cleanest behind-the-meter power plan he has seen, while also crediting Microsoft CFO Amy Hood for expanded Azure disclosure and noting growing enterprise adoption of Microsoft 365 Copilot. The bear case centers on heavy capital expenditures and long-term power commitments that add infrastructure and execution exposure, plus commodity price volatility and environmental regulatory pressure from fossil fuel generation. According to Insider Monkey's tracking of over 1,000 hedge funds, 273 funds held a stake in Microsoft in the latest quarter versus 282 previously, with Arrowstreet Capital becoming the largest common stock hedge fund shareholder after raising its position by 14% in Q2 to nearly 27.66 million shares, while 101 funds held Chevron versus 103 previously and Berkshire Hathaway held the most prominent position at nearly 84.4 million shares.

Chevron has become one of the most searched-for stocks on Zacks.com, with shares returning +7.6% over the past month against a -2% change for the Zacks S&P 500 composite, while the Zacks Oil and Gas - Integrated - International industry gained 6.3%. For the current quarter, Chevron is expected to post earnings of $4.89 per share, a change of +164.3% from the year-ago quarter, and the Zacks Consensus Estimate has moved +9.1% over the last 30 days. The consensus earnings estimate of $16.51 for the current fiscal year indicates a year-over-year change of +126.5% and has changed +4.1% over the last 30 days, while the next fiscal year's consensus estimate of $14.66 indicates a change of -11.2% and has changed +4.8% over the past month. The consensus sales estimate for the current quarter of $55.07 billion indicates a year-over-year change of +10.7%, with current and next fiscal year estimates of $228.85 billion and $217.28 billion indicating +21.1% and -5.1% changes, respectively. Chevron reported revenues of $70.06 billion in the last reported quarter, a year-over-year change of +56.3%, with EPS of $6.06 versus $1.77 a year ago, and the stock carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) and a Zacks Value Style Score of B.

Chevron's subsidiary Energy Forge One signed a 20-year agreement with Microsoft in June to build a gas-fired power plant beside a data center campus outside Pecos, Texas, ramping up to roughly 2.67 gigawatts, with a final investment decision due by the end of this year and power flowing in 2028. The project addresses the Permian Basin's chronic gas glut: the EIA expects Permian gas production to average 29.2 Bcf/d this year, up 6% and a record for the region, while the Waha pricing hub traded negative on 118 of the first 131 trading days this year and is on pace to beat 2024's record for negative days. Enterprise Products Partners is expanding its Bahia NGL pipeline out of the Midland and Delaware basins, with ExxonMobil taking a 40% stake and contracts running into 2027, and East Daley Analytics figures LNG terminals and data centers together will pull more than 20 Bcf/d of new demand. RBC Capital Markets counts about 38 gigawatts of announced behind-the-meter gas capacity in Texas, more than any other state, with one build called GW Ranch targeting 7.5 gigawatts of on-site generation in West Texas by 2031. Governor Greg Abbott ordered a pause on new data center approvals on Aug. 3, covering around 300 large projects in ERCOT's Batch Zero process, but the audit does not apply to projects that skip the grid connection, leaving the Chevron and Microsoft model free to proceed.

Iraq, OPEC's second-largest oil producer, is pushing for a significant increase in its production quota from OPEC+, seeking to have a new production baseline of 6 million barrels per day used as the basis for determining quotas in 2027, well above the current ceiling of 4.431 million barrels per day. Sources familiar with the matter say Iraq signaled in June that it might withdraw from the group if its production baseline is not adjusted upward, and Iraq's withdrawal would deal a major blow to the alliance, following the earlier exit of the United Arab Emirates. OPEC+ is having external consultants assess members' actual production capacity, with completion scheduled by the end of September, ahead of oil ministers' consideration for endorsement in late November. The outcome of this assessment is crucial for the balance of the global oil market, especially if exports from the Gulf fully recover, which could lead to an oversupply. Meanwhile, major oil companies such as Chevron and Exxon Mobil are negotiating a return to investment in Iraq. However, it remains uncertain whether OPEC+ will accept Iraq's proposed production baseline, as the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates Iraq's sustainable production capacity at only 4.9 million barrels per day, and actual production in August averaged just 2.98 million barrels per day, due to conflict with Iran affecting shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.

U.S. oil major Chevron plans to more than double the number of oil drilling rigs it operates in Venezuela as part of a five-year plan to boost production there, the company's Chief Financial Officer Aymara Bonner said on Tuesday at a Barclays-hosted conference. Last week, Chevron announced plans to invest over $7 billion through its Venezuelan joint ventures to more than double crude output to 600,000 barrels per day by 2031. According to Bonner, after reaching 600,000 barrels per day, the joint ventures' production is expected to stabilize at 600,000 to 700,000 barrels per day, and the abundant resource base could sustain that level for five to ten years.