(Bloomberg) -- Chevron Corp. will hike spending by 9.3 percent next year to $20 billion, its first budget increase since 2014 as it expands investments in the Permian Basin and its Tengiz project in Kazakhstan.

  • The world’s No. 3 oil producer by market value will spend $3.6 billion in the West Texas and New Mexico basin, 18 percent of its total budget. The amount is up about 9 percent from this year’s budget.

Key Insights

  • Chief Executive Officer Mike Wirth said in March he’s “very confident” that annual capital spending will remain below $20 billion for the next three years regardless of oil prices.
  • Chevron’s annual spending is now about half of what it was half a decade ago, when oil prices were more than $100 a barrel and it was exceeding its budget on giant Australian gas-export projects.
  • Major oil explorers are setting 2019 spending plans during a period of considerable price volatility: New York crude futures have lost about a third of their value since early October, prompting OPEC, Russia and other significant producers to consider production curbs.

Market Reaction

  • Chevron was little changed in after-market trading. The stock earlier fell 1.1 percent to $115.91.

Get More

  • For more details on the results, click here.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kevin Crowley in Houston at kcrowley1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Simon Casey at scasey4@bloomberg.net, Joe Carroll, Carlos Caminada

©2018 Bloomberg L.P.