Chevron (NYSE:CVX) executives emphasized operational execution, portfolio strengthening and shareholder returns during the company’s fourth-quarter 2025 earnings call, highlighting record production, major project startups and a dividend increase.
Record production and major project milestones
Chairman and CEO Mike Wirth said 2025 was “a year of execution,” pointing to record production globally and in the U.S. The company completed the Future Growth Project at Tengiz, which Wirth said added 260,000 barrels of oil per day. He also cited the startup of Ballymore and Whale and the ramp-up of Anchor in the Gulf of Mexico as key steps toward Chevron’s stated goal of reaching 300,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in the Gulf of Mexico in 2026.
Fourth-quarter results and capital returns
CFO Eimear Bonner reported fourth-quarter earnings of $2.8 billion, or $1.39 per share, with adjusted earnings of $3.0 billion, or $1.52 per share. Bonner said items included pension curtailment costs of $128 million and negative foreign currency effects of $130 million.
Cash flow from operations was $10.8 billion for the quarter and included $1.7 billion from a working capital drawdown. Bonner said Chevron expects working capital to build in the first quarter of 2026, consistent with historical trends. Organic capital expenditures were $5.1 billion in the quarter, and full-year organic CapEx was in line with guidance. Inorganic CapEx was “mostly” related to lease acquisitions and new energies investments, she said.
Chevron repurchased $3 billion of shares in the quarter, which Bonner described as the high end of guidance, and ended the year with a net debt coverage ratio of 1x.
For the full year, Bonner said adjusted free cash flow was $20 billion and included the first loan repayment from TCO and $1.8 billion in asset sales. Wirth said adjusted free cash flow, excluding asset sales, increased more than 35% year-over-year even with oil prices down nearly 15%, and he noted that Chevron returned record cash to shareholders for the fourth consecutive year.
Bonner also announced a 4% increase in the quarterly dividend, calling it Chevron’s “top financial priority.” She said the company has returned more than $100 billion in dividends and buybacks over the last four years.
Venezuela: self-funded growth and potential additional volumes
Wirth provided an update on Chevron’s Venezuela operations, saying activity has continued uninterrupted and that Chevron’s people are safe. He said Chevron is in four joint ventures with PDVSA, three of which are producing assets.
According to Wirth, since 2022—following changes in licenses—Chevron has increased production in its Venezuela ventures by more than 200,000 barrels per day, with gross production “around 250,000 barrels a day.” He said Chevron sees potential for up to 50% additional production growth over the next 18–24 months, contingent on additional authorizations from the U.S. government.
Wirth said the work in Venezuela is funded through cash within the ventures, with cash used for required taxes and royalties, debt repayment, and reinvestment into operations such as well work and maintenance on pumps, pipelines and compressor stations. He added that while resource potential is “large” with “a lot of running room,” Chevron needs stability, confidence in fiscal terms, and regulatory predictability, noting a hydrocarbon law passed “just yesterday” that the company was reviewing.
Eastern Mediterranean growth and exploration plans
Wirth highlighted Chevron’s “advantage assets” in the Eastern Mediterranean and described a slate of gas projects intended to expand supply to regional markets. He said Leviathan reached final investment decision (FID) to further expand production capacity and, combined with near-term expansion, gross capacity is anticipated to reach roughly 2.1 billion cubic feet per day by the end of the decade. Wirth said this is expected to contribute to a doubling of current earnings and free cash flow.
He also said a Tamar optimization project was starting up, increasing gross capacity to approximately 1.6 billion cubic feet per day. Aphrodite has entered front-end engineering and design (FEED) as Chevron works toward a competitive investment in Cyprus.
In Q&A, Wirth said the company has “at least one exploration well” expected offshore Egypt and described a large position in blocks offshore Egypt in relatively underexplored areas. He said Chevron has shot seismic and plans to drill wells to test whether petroleum systems extend offshore.
Tengiz update, cost reductions, and 2026 outlook
Wirth addressed a recent issue at Tengizchevroil (TCO), saying the facility experienced a temporary problem in the power distribution system and production was proactively put in recycle mode for safety while the team identified the root cause. He said early production has resumed and Chevron expects most plant capacity to be online within a week, with unconstrained production levels within February. Wirth said Chevron’s 2026 guidance of $6 billion of Chevron-share free cash flow from TCO at $70 Brent was unchanged.
Bonner said 2025 was the highest full-year worldwide and U.S. production in Chevron’s history. Excluding Hess acquisition impacts, she said net oil-equivalent production growth was at the top end of the company’s 6%–8% guidance range. Looking to 2026, Bonner said the company expects production growth to continue driven by project ramp-ups, a full year of Hess assets, and ongoing efficiency in shale. She said growth in high-margin assets is anticipated to contribute to a 7%–10% increase in production year-over-year, excluding the impact of asset sales.
Bonner also provided an update on Chevron’s cost reduction program, saying execution exceeded expectations with $1.5 billion delivered in 2025 and $2 billion captured in the annual run rate. She said Chevron expanded its target to $3 billion–$4 billion by the end of 2026, with more than 60% of savings expected from “durable efficiency gains.”
Among operational updates, executives said Chevron is holding Permian production at roughly 1 million barrels per day while optimizing cash generation and improving capital efficiency, and they discussed applying best practices to the Bakken following the Hess transaction. In downstream, Wirth said Chevron brought about 50,000 barrels per day of Venezuelan crude into the Pascagoula refinery and could take another 100,000 barrels per day into its system, including Pascagoula and the El Segundo refinery.
About Chevron (NYSE:CVX)
Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX) is an American multinational energy company engaged in virtually all aspects of the oil and gas industry. As an integrated energy firm, Chevron’s core activities include upstream oil and natural gas exploration and production, midstream transportation and storage, downstream refining and marketing of fuels and lubricants, and petrochemical manufacturing through joint ventures and subsidiaries. The company markets fuels under brands such as Chevron, Texaco and Caltex and supplies a range of products and services to retail customers, industrial users and commercial fleets worldwide.
Chevron traces its corporate lineage to the early petroleum companies that eventually became Standard Oil of California and has evolved through significant mergers and restructurings, including the acquisitions of Gulf Oil and Texaco.
