Chevron says Middle East conflict had ‘limited impact’ on production

The company said, “We anticipate approximately $1 billion of the paper positions to unwind in the second quarter, with the majority of related cargoes delivered in April. Looking forward, we would expect additional timing effects when prices are rising, and further unwinds when prices are falling…Working capital was impacted by sharp commodity price increases, as well as a build in inventory. Consistent with historical trends, we expect an increase in working capital in the first half of the year and a release in the second half, the extent of which will be primarily driven by prices.Over the period, more than $5B in commercial paper was issued to manage liquidity and general business needs. About half has already been paid down in April, and we expect these short-term balances to decline further throughout the second quarter…The conflict in the Middle East had a limited impact on production in the quarter with less than 5% of our portfolio located in the region. In the Partitioned Zone, we are operating at near minimum rates to manage storage. In the Eastern Mediterranean, both Tamar and Leviathan are operating at full capacity. During the quarter, we continued to execute key expansion projects, completing the offshore scope for both the Tamar optimization project and the Leviathan third gathering line.”