Chevron said oil and natural gas production in July and August was down because of U.S. and Asian activity though it expressed fourth quarter optimism.
U.S. supermajor Chevron said net production of oil and gas fell by the equivalent of 74,000 barrels per day because of maintenance work in the Gulf of Mexico, Kazakhstan and the United Kingdom, as well as a third-party pipeline incident in Thailand.
In terms of U.S.assets, Chevron said production decreased by the equivalent of 18,000 barrels per day during the first two months of the third quarter.
Chevron last month announced a discovery at a deep-water prospect in the Gulf of Mexico left idled after last year’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
Tax increases by the British government on oil and gas producers are expected to add millions of dollars to Chevron’s expenses there during the third quarter, the company said.
The company said that while it was expecting a reduction in upstream earnings, overall oil production in the fourth quarter would increase when compared to third quarter levels.
Downstream earnings for the third quarter included $500 million from its sale of its Pembroke refiner and related British and Irish assets.
A full earnings report for the third quarter is expected this month.
