Chevron's interim report mixed

SAN RAMON, Calif., July 10 (UPI) -- California-based supermajor Chevron said upstream earnings for the second quarter of 2009 are expected to rise, though downstream results should see declines.

Chevron in its interim update said upstream activity should benefit from the recovery in crude oil prices toward $65, up from lows below $40 per barrel in late 2008. Meanwhile, downstream results are expected to be "significantly lower than the first quarter."

U.S. oil-equivalent production rose 11,000 barrels per day in the first two months of the second fiscal quarter because of restoration of facilities in the Gulf of Mexico damaged by hurricanes in 2008. Commission of facilities in the Tahiti field and increased production at the Blind Faith facility in the Gulf of Mexico contributed to increased production as well.

Overall production of net oil-equivalent at international projects fell, however, by 13,000 barrels per day while natural gas production declined by 60 million cubic feet per day, which Chevron blamed on lower sales in Thailand.

Meanwhile, refinery crude-input volume fell 32,000 barrels per day, roughly 3 percent, because of maintenance at refineries in South Korea and Singapore.

Chevron is the fourth-largest non-government energy company in the world and one of the six so-called supermajors.