2024-08-02 Chevron Corporation (CVX) Q2 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

2024-08-02 Chevron Corporation (CVX) Q2 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) Q2 2024 Earnings Conference Call August 2, 2024 11:00 AM ET
雪佛龙公司 (纽约证券交易所：CVX) 2024 年第二季度财报电话会议 2024 年 8 月 2 日 上午 11:00 东部时间

Company Participants 公司参与者

Jake Spiering - General Manager, Investor Relations
杰克·斯皮尔林 - 总经理，投资者关系
Michael K. Wirth - Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
迈克尔·K·维尔斯 - 董事会主席兼首席执行官
Eimear P. Bonner - Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
艾梅尔·P·博纳 - 副总裁兼首席财务官

Conference Call Participants
会议电话参与者

Neil Mehta - Goldman Sachs
尼尔·梅塔 - 高盛
Alastair Syme - Citi 阿拉斯泰尔·赛姆 - 花旗银行
Paul Cheng - Scotiabank 保罗·郑 - 加拿大丰业银行
Biraj Borkhataria - RBC 比拉吉·博尔卡塔里亚 - RBC
Doug Leggate - Wolfe Research
道格·莱格特 - 沃尔夫研究
Josh Silverstein - UBS 乔什·西尔弗斯坦 - 瑞银
Roger Read - Wells Fargo
罗杰·里德 - 富国银行
Devin McDermott - Morgan Stanley
德文·麦克德莫特 - 摩根士丹利
Nitin Kumar - Mizuho 尼廷·库马尔 - 瑞穗
Jason Gabelman - TD Cowen
杰森·盖布尔曼 - TD Cowen
Bob Brackett - Bernstein 鲍勃·布拉基特 - 伯恩斯坦
Neal Dingmann - Truist 尼尔·丁曼 - Truist
Geoff Jay - Daniel Energy Partners
杰夫·杰伊 - 丹尼尔能源合伙人
Betty Jiang - Barclays 贝蒂·姜 - 巴克莱
John Royall - JPMorgan 约翰·罗伊尔 - 摩根大通

Operator 操作员

Good morning. My name is Justin, and I will be your conference facilitator today. Welcome to Chevron’s Second Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call.
早上好。我叫贾斯廷，今天将担任您的会议主持人。欢迎参加雪佛龙 2024 年第二季度财报电话会议。

At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speakers’ remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session and instructions will be given at that time. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded.
此时，所有参与者处于仅听模式。在发言者发言后，将进行问答环节，并在那时提供说明。[操作员说明] 提醒您，此次电话会议正在录音。

I will now turn the conference call over to the General Manager of Investor Relations of Chevron Corporation, Mr. Jake Spiering. Please go ahead.
我现在将电话会议交给雪佛龙公司的投资者关系总经理杰克·斯皮尔林先生。请继续。

Jake Spiering 杰克·斯皮尔宁

Thank you, Justin. Welcome to Chevron’s second quarter 2024 earnings conference call and webcast. I’m Jake Spiering, Head of Investor Relations. Our Chairman and CEO, Mike Wirth; and CFO, Eimear Bonner are on the call with me today. We will refer to the slides and prepared remarks that are available on Chevron’s website.
谢谢你，贾斯廷。欢迎参加雪佛龙 2024 年第二季度的财报电话会议和网络直播。我是杰克·斯皮尔林，投资者关系负责人。我们的董事长兼首席执行官迈克·维尔斯和首席财务官艾梅尔·博纳今天也在电话会议中。我们将参考雪佛龙网站上提供的幻灯片和准备好的发言稿。

Before we begin, please be reminded that this presentation contains estimates, projections and other forward-looking statements. A reconciliation of non-GAAP measures can be found in the appendix to this presentation. Please review the cautionary statement on Slide 2.
在我们开始之前，请注意本次演示包含估计、预测和其他前瞻性声明。非公认会计原则（GAAP）指标的调节可以在本次演示的附录中找到。请查看第 2 页的警示声明。

Now, I will turn it over to Mike.
现在，我将把它交给迈克。

Michael K. Wirth 迈克尔·K·维尔斯

Thanks, Jake. This quarter, Chevron delivered strong production and extended our track record of consistent shareholder returns. Production increased by more than 11% from the prior year and included a new quarterly record in the Permian.
谢谢，杰克。本季度，雪佛龙实现了强劲的生产，并延续了我们持续为股东回报的良好记录。生产比去年增长了超过 11%，并在二叠纪创下了新的季度记录。

Over the past two years we’ve returned over $50 billion to shareholders, approximately 18% of our market cap. We continued to advance growth opportunities in our traditional and new energies businesses through adding new exploration plays in West Africa and South America, achieving key milestones on the ACES green hydrogen project and commissioning of the Geismar renewable diesel plant expansion, which is expected to come online by the end of the year.
在过去两年中，我们已向股东返还超过 500亿美元，约占我们市值的 18%。我们通过在西非和南美增加新的勘探项目，继续推动传统和新能源业务的增长机会，在 ACES 绿色氢气项目上取得关键里程碑，并启动 Geismar 可再生柴油厂扩建，预计将在年底前投入使用。

The merger with Hess achieved a successful shareholder vote, and we now expect the FTC review process to conclude in the third quarter. The arbitration panel addressing the Stabroek JOA has set a hearing for next year. Hess had requested an earlier hearing, but the panel ultimately sets the schedule. We remain confident this is a straightforward matter and the outcome will affirm a preemption right does not apply. We’re committed to the merger and look forward to combining the two companies.
与Hess的合并获得了股东投票的成功，我们预计联邦贸易委员会(FTC)的审查过程将在第三季度结束。处理Stabroek联合经营协议(JOA)的仲裁小组已安排在明年举行听证会。Hess曾请求提前听证，但小组最终确定了时间表。我们依然有信心这是一个简单明了的问题，结果将确认没有适用的优先权。我们致力于这次合并，并期待将两家公司合并。
任何破事都是有原因的。

In the Gulf of Mexico, we’re leveraging our deepwater expertise with plans to deliver high cash-margin, low carbon intensity production growth. First oil at Anchor is imminent, delivering the industry’s first deepwater 20,000 pound development. The project is on-track to come in under budget while deploying multiple breakthrough technologies. After Anchor, three more projects are scheduled to come online and we expect production to grow to 300,000 barrels a day by 2026.
在墨西哥湾，我们正利用我们的深水专业知识，计划提供高现金利润率、低碳强度的生产增长。Anchor项目的首次出油即将到来，这将实现行业首个深水20000磅的开发。该项目有望在预算内完成，同时部署多项突破性技术。在Anchor之后，还有三个项目计划上线，我们预计到2026年，日产量将增长到30万桶。

Our developments have become more capital-efficient, unit drilling costs have come down and facility designs are optimized for high returns. As one of the largest leaseholders in the basin, we’re well-positioned for the future with leading technology capability and attractive exploration opportunities near existing infrastructure and in frontier areas.
我们的发展变得更加资本高效，单位钻井成本已经下降，设施设计也针对高回报进行了优化。作为盆地内最大的租赁持有者之一，我们凭借领先的技术能力和在现有基础设施附近以及前沿区域的吸引力勘探机会，为未来做好了充分的准备。

In the Permian, base business performance continues to improve, with higher reliability and lower decline rates. Development activity continues to get more efficient. We’re one of the first operators to deploy triple-frac, delivering cost reductions of more than 10% and shortening completion times by 25% where applied.
在二叠纪，基础业务表现持续改善，可靠性提高，衰退率降低。开发活动变得更加高效。我们是首批部署三重压裂的运营商之一，成本降低超过 10%，完成时间缩短 25%。

In the Delaware Basin, company-operated well performance continues to improve as we optimize development strategies. In the Midland Basin, early well results are lower versus last year, our program in the second half of the year is more heavily weighted to development targets that we expect to perform better. With strong momentum in our operated portfolio and predictable results from our non-operated and royalty acreage, we now expect full-year production growth of about 15% and fourth quarter production to average around 940,000 barrels per day.
在特拉华盆地，公司的运营井表现持续改善，我们正在优化开发策略。在米德兰盆地，早期井的结果较去年有所下降，我们下半年的计划更侧重于我们预计表现更好的开发目标。凭借我们运营组合的强劲势头以及来自非运营和特许权土地的可预测结果，我们现在预计全年产量增长约 15%，第四季度的日均产量将达到约 94 万桶。

At TCO, cost and schedule guidance is unchanged, with FGP expected to start up in the first half of 2025. We continue to bring major equipment online and complete key project milestones. Eight out of 21 metering stations have been converted to low pressure. Three Pressure Boost Facility compressors are in operation. A third gas turbine generator is in service. The first 3GP process system is ready for operation, and we completed the SGI turnaround on time and under budget.
在 TCO，成本和进度指导保持不变，FGP 预计将在 2025 年上半年启动。我们继续将主要设备投入使用，并完成关键项目里程碑。21 个计量站中有 8 个已转换为低压。三个增压设施压缩机正在运行。第三台燃气轮机发电机已投入服务。第一个 3GP 工艺系统已准备好投入运行，我们按时并低于预算完成了 SGI 的检修。

The wells converted to low pressure are meeting expectations and the Pressure Boost Facilities are operating with high reliability. Over the next two quarters, we’ll continue converting the field to low pressure while further commissioning key equipment for FGP. The project team remains focused on completing the project safely and starting up reliably to deliver value to Kazakhstan, TCO and shareholders.
转换为低压的井符合预期，增压设施运行可靠。在接下来的两个季度，我们将继续将该领域转换为低压，同时进一步调试 FGP 的关键设备。项目团队将继续专注于安全完成项目，并可靠启动，以为哈萨克斯坦、TCO 和股东创造价值。

This quarter was a little light due to some operational and other discrete items that impacted results, but I remain confident we’re well-positioned to deliver on long-term earnings and cash flow growth.
本季度由于一些运营和其他离散项目影响了业绩，表现稍显疲软，但我仍然相信我们在实现长期收益和现金流增长方面处于良好位置。

Now, I’ll turn it over to Eimear to cover the details.
现在，我将把它交给 Eimear 来讲解细节。

Eimear P. Bonner 艾梅尔·P·博纳

Thanks, Mike. We reported second quarter earnings of $4.4 billion, or $2.43 per share. Adjusted earnings were $4.7 billion, or $2.55 per share. Results in the quarter were impacted by downtime in Upstream that weighed on realizations, higher exploration expense and Downstream turnaround timing. Organic CapEx was $3.9 billion, in-line with budget. Our balance sheet remains one of the strongest in the industry, ending the quarter with a net debt ratio of 10.7%.
谢谢，迈克。我们报告了第二季度的收益为 44 亿美元，或每股 2.43 美元。调整后的收益为 47 亿美元，或每股 2.55 美元。本季度的结果受到上游停工的影响，导致实现收益下降，勘探费用增加以及下游检修时间的影响。自有资本支出为 39 亿美元，符合预算。我们的资产负债表仍然是行业中最强的之一，季度末净债务比率为 10.7%。

Chevron generated solid cash flow of nearly $9 billion excluding working capital. Working capital lowered cash flow due to tax true-up payments outside the U.S. and a build in inventories. We expect about half of the working capital to unwind in the second half of this year, primarily in the fourth quarter. We again demonstrated our consistent approach to returning cash to shareholders with $6 billion of dividends and share repurchases.
雪佛龙公司产生了近90亿美元的强劲现金流，不包括营运资本。由于在美国以外的税收调整支付和库存的增加，营运资本降低了现金流。我们预计大约一半的营运资本将在今年的下半年解除，主要是在第四季度。我们再次展示了我们一贯的做法，即向股东返还现金，通过60亿美元的股息和股票回购。

Adjusted earnings were lower by $700 million versus last quarter. Adjusted Upstream earnings were down mainly due to lower liftings, higher exploration expense and absence of favorable tax impacts from the prior quarter. Partly offsetting were higher realizations. Adjusted Downstream earnings were down due to lower margins and reduced capture rates, this was partially offset by timing effects. All Other decreased mainly due to a tax true-up.
调整后的收益比上个季度下降了 7 亿美元。调整后的上游收益下降主要是由于提取量减少、勘探费用增加以及上个季度缺乏有利的税收影响。部分抵消因素是更高的实现价格。调整后的下游收益下降是由于利润率降低和捕获率减少，这部分被时间效应所抵消。其他所有项目的收益下降主要是由于税务调整。

Versus last year, adjusted second quarter earnings were down $1.1 billion. Adjusted Upstream earnings were flat, higher realizations and liftings were mostly offset with higher DD&A due to the PDC acquisition and the absence of prior year favorable tax items. Adjusted Downstream earnings decreased mainly due to lower refining margins and higher turnaround and transportation OpEx. The Other segment was down primarily due to state tax adjustments. Worldwide oil equivalent production was up over 11% from last year due to the acquisition of PDC Energy and significant growth in the Permian Basin.
与去年同期相比，调整后的第二季度收益下降了11亿美元。调整后的上游收益持平，由于PDC能源公司的收购和去年有利税收项目缺失导致的折旧和摊销（DD&A）增加，更高的实现价格和产量提升大部分被抵消。调整后的下游收益主要由于炼油利润下降和更高的检修及运输运营支出（OpEx）而减少。其他部分收益下降主要是由于州税收调整。由于PDC能源公司的收购和二叠纪盆地的显著增长，全球石油当量产量比去年增长了超过11%。

Now, looking ahead. The third quarter will have heavier than usual maintenance with several turnarounds at Upstream assets, including TCO and Gorgon. Impacts from refinery turnarounds are mostly driven by El Segundo. There will be a one-time payment related to discontinued operations of around $600 million.
现在，展望未来。第三季度的维护工作将比平时更为繁重，包括 TCO 和戈尔贡的多个转产。炼油厂的转产影响主要来自埃尔塞贡多。将有一笔约为 6 亿美元的一次性支付，涉及停止运营的相关费用。

We anticipate affiliate dividends to be around $1 billion this quarter. With the project in Kazakhstan nearing completion, we expect quarterly dividends from TCO moving forward. As a reminder, Chevron pays a 15% withholding tax on dividends from TCO which lowers both earnings and cash flow. Share repurchases are targeting the $17.5 billion annual guidance rate. Asset sales in the second half of the year are expected to be aligned with full-year guidance.
我们预计本季度的联属公司股息将达到约10亿美元。随着哈萨克斯坦的项目接近完成，我们预计TCO的季度股息将会持续。提醒一下，雪佛龙公司从TCO获得的股息需要支付15%的预扣税，这降低了收益和现金流。股票回购的目标是按照每年175亿美元的指导速度进行。预计下半年的资产销售将与全年指导保持一致。

Back to you, Mike. 回到你那儿，迈克。

Michael K. Wirth 迈克尔·K·维尔斯

Okay. Thanks, Eimear. Today we announced we’re moving Chevron’s headquarters from San Ramon to Houston to enable better collaboration and engagement, both internally and externally. We also announced the retirements of Nigel Hearne, Executive Vice President, Oil, Products & Gas; Colin Parfitt, Vice President, Midstream; and Rhonda Morris, Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer after long and distinguished careers. I want to extend my sincere thanks to Nigel, Colin and Rhonda, for their service and their many contributions to our company.
好的。谢谢，Eimear。今天我们宣布将雪佛龙的总部从圣拉蒙迁至休斯顿，以促进内部和外部更好的协作与互动。我们还宣布了尼杰尔·赫恩（Nigel Hearne）、石油、产品与天然气执行副总裁；科林·帕菲特（Colin Parfitt）、中游副总裁；以及朗达·莫里斯（Rhonda Morris）、副总裁兼首席人力资源官在长期卓越的职业生涯后退休。我想对尼杰尔、科林和朗达表示诚挚的感谢，感谢他们为我们公司所做的服务和贡献。

And finally, I’d like to offer our deepest condolences to the family of our former Chairman and CEO, Ken Derr, who passed away three weeks ago. Ken’s vision and leadership helped guide Chevron through momentous times to create a high-performing company with outstanding people and a portfolio that distinguishes our business to this day. Ken left an indelible legacy for our company and all those whose lives have been made better by his leadership. He will never be forgotten.
最后，我想向我们前任董事长兼首席执行官肯·德尔的家人表示最深切的哀悼，他在三周前去世。肯的远见和领导力帮助雪佛龙度过了重要时刻，创造了一家高绩效的公司，拥有杰出的人才和至今使我们业务与众不同的投资组合。肯为我们的公司以及因他的领导而生活得更好的人们留下了不可磨灭的遗产。他将永远被铭记。

Back to you, Jake. 回到你那儿，杰克。

Jake Spiering 杰克·斯皮尔宁

That concludes our prepared remarks. We’re now ready to take your questions. Please ask you to limit yourself to one question. We will do our best to get all of your questions answered. Justin, please open the line.
这就是我们准备的发言。我们现在准备好回答您的问题。请您限制自己提一个问题。我们会尽力回答您所有的问题。贾斯廷，请打开电话线。

Question-and-Answer Session
问答环节

Operator 操作员

Thank you. [Operator Instructions] And our first question comes from Neil Mehta with Goldman Sachs.
谢谢。[操作员指示] 我们的第一个问题来自高盛的尼尔·梅塔。

Neil Mehta 尼尔·梅塔

Yes. Thank you so much and congratulations to Nigel, Colin and Rhonda on their retirement. My question, Mike, was really focused around TCO. And, it sounds like we are making progress on that project, but this is a critical period of time during the summer productivity period. So, just would love your thoughts on how FGP is progressing.
是的，非常感谢，祝贺 Nigel、Colin 和 Rhonda 退休。我的问题，Mike，实际上是关于 TCO 的。听起来我们在那个项目上取得了进展，但这是夏季生产高峰期的一个关键时期。所以，只是想知道 FGP 的进展情况如何。

And then, as it relates to Kazakhstan, we’re getting a lot of questions about the concession extension as we think about next decade and I recognize that’s a long way away, but maybe you can help to address some of the investor debate around that topic as well?
关于哈萨克斯坦，我们收到了很多关于特许权延长的问题，因为我们在考虑下一个十年。我意识到这还有很长的时间，但也许您可以帮助解决一些投资者在这个话题上的争论？

Michael K. Wirth 迈克尔·K·维尔斯

Sure. Thanks, Neil, and thanks for your kind remarks about our retiring executives. So, at TCO as I covered in my comments, we’re really seeing steady and consistent progress. Work is being planned and liquidated in sequence, which is resulting in strong daily, weekly and monthly progress. I get a weekly report straight from the project team with a tremendous amount of detail. I’m in regular contact with them, and I can tell you that they are really on top of their game.
当然。谢谢你，尼尔，也谢谢你对我们退休高管的好评。正如我在评论中提到的，在 TCO，我们确实看到了稳定和持续的进展。工作正在按顺序规划和完成，这导致了强劲的日常、每周和每月进展。我每周都会收到来自项目团队的详细报告。我与他们保持定期联系，我可以告诉你，他们真的非常出色。

As I said, we’ve got three of the pressure boost facilities up and running, the fourth not far away and WPMP is operating very reliably. So, we’re pleased with the performance of the equipment. We’re very pleased with the performance of the wells flowing at low pressure and its early days, but it augurs very well for the maintenance of strong production out of the field for a long time to come.
正如我所说，我们已经有三个增压设施投入运行，第四个也不远了，WPMP 的运行非常可靠。因此，我们对设备的表现感到满意。我们对低压流动井的表现非常满意，虽然现在还处于早期阶段，但这为未来长期保持强劲的产量预示着良好的前景。

On FGP, we’re going to have additional FGP major equipment and systems ready for operations or started up later this quarter. And, we’re just going to continue to work our way through that. We’re moving in a more complex process units as opposed to some of the big rotating equipment and field metering station conversions. So, the nature of some of the startup work on FGP will be a little bit different.
在 FGP 方面，我们将在本季度晚些时候准备好额外的 FGP 主要设备和系统投入运营或启动。我们将继续推进这一工作。我们正在转向更复杂的工艺单元，而不是一些大型旋转设备和现场计量站的改造。因此，FGP 的一些启动工作性质会有所不同。

The other thing to recall is, we do have a large turnaround this quarter. So, good progress. The one thing that we won’t compromise is safety or reliability in pursuit of schedule, but I can tell you that the team is all over that.
另一个需要记住的事情是，我们本季度有很大的周转。因此，进展良好。我们不会在追求进度的过程中妥协安全或可靠性，但我可以告诉你，团队对此非常关注。

With respect to the concession, we’re really focused right now on getting this project up and running. The concession exploration is nearly a decade away, and the most important thing we can do is make sure that this big complex project is started up safely and reliably. To remind people that may not know, this is one of the world’s deepest producing supergiant oil fields and it’s the largest single trap producing reservoir in existence.
关于特许权，我们现在非常专注于让这个项目顺利启动。特许权勘探还有近十年的时间，而我们能做的最重要的事情就是确保这个大型复杂项目安全可靠地启动。为了提醒那些可能不知道的人，这是世界上最深的超级巨型油田之一，也是现存最大的单一储层生产油气的地方。

So, TCO is very important to the Republic of Kazakhstan, it’s very important to us and we’ll certainly be in discussions with the government over time about potential extension. The key thing is an extension needs to create value for the country and it needs to create value for Chevron shareholders. We always seek that kind of an outcome.
因此，TCO 对哈萨克斯坦共和国非常重要，对我们来说也非常重要，我们肯定会与政府进行讨论，探讨潜在的延长事宜。关键是，延长需要为国家创造价值，也需要为雪佛龙的股东创造价值。我们始终追求这样的结果。
不可靠的资产。

We’ve extended concessions in other places where value was created for both parties. And then, there’s been some instances over the recent period of time where we couldn’t achieve the outcome and we did not extend. So, we’ll be talking more about this subject over time, but right now we’re really focused on project execution and continuing the strong performance on delivering FGP. Thanks, Neil.
我们在其他地方扩展了让步，双方都创造了价值。最近有一些情况我们未能达成结果，因此没有扩展。因此，我们将会在未来更多地讨论这个话题，但现在我们真的专注于项目执行，并继续在交付 FGP 方面保持强劲的表现。谢谢，尼尔。

Operator 操作员

And, next is Alastair Syme with Citi.
接下来是来自花旗的阿拉斯泰尔·赛姆。

Alastair Syme 阿拉斯泰尔·赛姆

Thanks. Mike, this period of limbo around Hess is obviously a period you don’t want to be in. It’s not clear to me when the FTC rules or if they push out, until arbitration as I sort of previously indicated. But my question to you is, do you feel limited to do any other significant portfolio development in this interim period? I guess if the right opportunity came along that is?
谢谢。迈克，这段关于赫斯的悬而未决的时期显然是你不想处于的状态。我不清楚 FTC 何时会做出裁决，或者是否会推迟到仲裁，正如我之前所提到的。但我想问你的是，在这个过渡期间，你是否觉得自己在进行其他重要的投资组合开发方面受到限制？我想如果有合适的机会出现的话，是不是？

Michael K. Wirth 迈克尔·K·维尔斯

Yes. You could do something else if you wanted to. This is the transaction, that’s the right transaction for us. And so, we’re very focused on it, Alastair, and we’ve made good progress with the shareholder vote, we’re steadily marching along with the FTC, and I’ve already mentioned the timeline on the arbitration.
是的。如果你想的话，可以做其他事情。这是交易，这对我们来说是正确的交易。因此，我们非常专注于此，阿拉斯泰尔，我们在股东投票方面取得了良好进展，正在与联邦贸易委员会稳步推进，我已经提到过仲裁的时间表。

So, it’s sometimes good things you have to work for and this will take a little bit more time than we had anticipated, but we remain confident in the outcome. And, as I tried to cover in our prepared remarks, we’ve got a really strong queue of organic growth opportunities in flight right now. We didn’t mention the Eastern Med, which is another one. So, we’ve got projects in multiple regions of the world that are poised to deliver growth over the next three years, absent it we be at 10% growth in free cash flow, we’ve got projects coming on in numerous basins in the world and in our chemicals business as well.
是的，有时候好事多磨，这将比我们预期的多花一些时间，但我们对结果仍然充满信心。正如我在我们准备的讲话中所提到的，我们现在有一系列强劲的有机增长机会正在进行中。我们没有提到东地中海，这是另一个。因此，我们在世界多个地区的项目都准备在未来三年内实现增长，即使没有它，我们的自由现金流增长也将达到10%，我们在全球众多盆地以及我们的化工业务中都有即将上线的项目。
Less but better，这句话适用于任何企业任何领域。

So, we’re really focused on that and creating value there. But, if another opportunity were to present itself that were compelling, we’re certainly in a position to consider it. Thanks for the question.
所以，我们真的专注于这一点并在这里创造价值。但是，如果出现另一个有吸引力的机会，我们当然有能力考虑它。谢谢你的提问。

Operator 操作员

And, the next question will come from Paul Cheng with Scotiabank.
接下来的问题将由来自斯科舍银行的保罗·程提出。

Paul Cheng 保罗·郑

Thank you. Mike, can you talk about the potential for further cost efficiency gain? Where that you see over the next, say, two or three years the biggest opportunity? And, could you quantify that? I mean, how big is that opportunity set for you guys? Thank you.
谢谢你。迈克，你能谈谈进一步提高成本效率的潜力吗？在接下来的两到三年里，你认为最大的机会在哪里？你能量化一下吗？我想知道这个机会对你们来说有多大？谢谢。

Michael K. Wirth 迈克尔·K·维尔斯

Yes. Thanks, Paul. I appreciate it. You and I have known each other for a long time. So, you know that capital discipline and cost discipline are near and dear to my heart and they always matter in a commodity business.
是的。谢谢你，保罗。我很感激。你我认识很久了。所以，你知道资本纪律和成本纪律对我来说非常重要，它们在商品业务中始终是关键。
不够自信的表现。

Year-to-date and Q2 unit OpEx for us was about $16 a barrel, which is down about 5% from 2022. And, improving unit OpEx continues to be a focus. Some of the actions we’re taking today driving down energy usage, which is a way to both reduce cost and emissions. At the same time in the Upstream, we’re electrifying rigs in the Permian, we’re lowering steam use at our San Joaquin Valley operations, in the Downstream we’re implementing energy efficiency projects at our refineries that reduce gas consumption and power use.
截至目前和第二季度我们的单位运营支出约为每桶 16 美元，比 2022 年下降了约 5%。改善单位运营支出仍然是我们的重点。我们今天采取的一些措施正在降低能源使用，这既是降低成本又是减少排放的一种方式。同时，在上游，我们正在对二叠纪的钻井平台进行电气化，在圣华金谷的运营中降低蒸汽使用，在下游，我们在炼油厂实施能源效率项目，以减少天然气消耗和电力使用。

We’re also optimizing supplier contracts, implementing a minimum functional objective approach to operations and maintenance activities at key assets like TCO and our LNG plants in Australia. And, we’re confident that we’ll continue to find new ways to increase efficiencies and reduce unit cost. Our plans would call for further unit cost reductions. And, I think you can look for us to use technology.
我们还在优化供应商合同，针对像 TCO 和我们在澳大利亚的 LNG 工厂等关键资产实施最低功能目标的方法来进行运营和维护活动。我们有信心继续找到提高效率和降低单位成本的新方法。我们的计划将要求进一步降低单位成本。我认为你可以期待我们使用技术。

For instance, the breakthroughs we’re seeing in data technology offer significant opportunities for both efficiency, asset productivity, improved safety and other performance. And so, you can rest assured that I am focused on costs, we are focused on costs and you’ll continue to hear more about that from us over time.
例如，我们在数据技术方面看到的突破为效率、资产生产力、改善安全性和其他绩效提供了重要机会。因此，您可以放心，我专注于成本，我们专注于成本，您将会在未来继续听到我们关于这一点的更多信息。
这一段的描述不如XOM，XOM的描述更接近于马斯克讲的“白痴指数”。

Jake Spiering 杰克·斯皮尔宁

Thanks, Paul. 谢谢，保罗。

Michael K. Wirth 迈克尔·K·维尔斯

Thanks, Paul. 谢谢，保罗。

Operator 操作员

And, the next question will come from Biraj Borkhataria with RBC.
下一个问题来自 RBC 的 Biraj Borkhataria。

Biraj Borkhataria 比拉吉·博尔卡塔里亚

Hi, thanks for taking my question. I wanted to just go back to Kazakhstan and the FGP ramp up. So, I wasn’t asking an operational question, but I appreciate FGP is on-track. But, it was related to the OPEC promises or curtailments. Kazakhstan this year has been a bit ahead of its quota, stated quota. If you take the headline figures from OPEC into next year, it doesn’t look like there’s a huge amount of room in that quota to grow. And obviously, FGP is a fairly substantial project. So, just wanted to get your thoughts on any sort of issues or risks related to that? Thank you.
嗨，谢谢你回答我的问题。我想回到哈萨克斯坦和 FGP 的增产上。所以，我并不是在问一个运营问题，但我很高兴 FGP 按计划进行。不过，这与 OPEC 的承诺或减产有关。今年哈萨克斯坦的产量有点超过了其规定的配额。如果你把 OPEC 的主要数据带入明年，似乎在那个配额中没有太多增长的空间。而且，显然，FGP 是一个相当重要的项目。所以，我只是想听听你对相关问题或风险的看法？谢谢。

Michael K. Wirth 迈克尔·K·维尔斯

Yes. Thanks, Biraj. So, obviously we are not party to those discussions. We comply with the requirements in any country where we operate including if they have some sort of production targets or requirements that they impose upon producers in the country.
是的。谢谢，Biraj。显然，我们并不是这些讨论的参与者。我们遵守我们运营的任何国家的要求，包括如果他们对国内生产者施加某种生产目标或要求。

We have not received any indication from the Republic of Kazakhstan with regards to any curtailments relative to OPEC+. What oftentimes happens there is with the production in several big assets, you have turnarounds, projects and other things that create some degree of variability across multiple different producers and I think the Republic looks to manage that and fit their plan together.
我们尚未收到哈萨克斯坦共和国关于 OPEC+任何减产的指示。通常情况下，几个大型资产的生产会有检修、项目和其他因素，这会导致多个不同生产者之间出现一定程度的波动，我认为该共和国希望管理这些因素并将其计划整合在一起。

So, I don’t have any unique knowledge about 2025, but we have a very close relationship. I will tell you that the TCO barrels, I think from a contribution to the Republic standpoint are very attractive and our intent is to produce at the full capacity any point in time for our facility in order to maximize revenue for the Republic and for Chevron.
所以，我对 2025 年没有任何独特的知识，但我们有非常密切的关系。我可以告诉你，从对共和国的贡献来看，TCO 桶是非常有吸引力的，我们的意图是在任何时候都以满负荷生产我们的设施，以最大化共和国和雪佛龙的收入。
不确定的国家，充满不确定的做法。

So, if there’s further developments on that front, we’ll certainly provide them, but we don’t have anything from the government right now. Thank you.
所以，如果在这方面有进一步的进展，我们一定会提供，但目前我们没有来自政府的任何消息。谢谢。

Operator 操作员

And, we’ll take a question from Doug Leggate with Wolfe Research.
我们将请 Wolfe Research 的 Doug Leggate 提问。

Doug Leggate 道格·莱盖特

Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Hey, Mike. I’m delighted to see you guys come to Houston. Welcome. But, if you want to stop by for coffee, let me know. But, Mike, I missed out on the last earnings call, and I apologize for bringing it up. I know it’s highly sensitive and highly, I guess, subjective, but the issue around the delayed arbitration, I wanted to pose a question to you and see if we can get you to probe a little bit on this.
谢谢。大家早上好。嘿，迈克。我很高兴看到你们来到休斯顿。欢迎。不过，如果你想过来喝咖啡，告诉我一声。迈克，我错过了上一次的财报电话会议，我为提起这个而感到抱歉。我知道这非常敏感，也非常主观，但关于延迟仲裁的问题，我想问你一个问题，看看我们能否让你对此深入探讨一下。

ExxonMobil, regardless of their motivation, has stated that they have no interest in buying Hess. But, at the same time, our understanding is the bigger concern is global contractual rule for credibility, protecting that aspect of a contract. So, when I go into two months of the legalities, I wonder, is there a compromise that could cut short the arbitration timeline so you don’t have to go to arbitration?
埃克森美孚无论出于何种动机，都表示他们对收购赫斯没有兴趣。但与此同时，我们了解到更大的担忧是全球合同规则的可信度，保护合同的这一方面。因此，当我进入两个月的法律程序时，我在想，是否有一个妥协可以缩短仲裁时间线，这样就不必进行仲裁？

For example, acknowledge you have a ROFR, but Exxon acknowledges they’re not going to exercise a ROFR so everybody gets to protect your contracts for Exxon and secure your acquisition for Chevron. Is it a compromise that could cut the arbitration short is my question?
例如，承认你有优先购买权，但埃克森美孚承认他们不会行使优先购买权，因此每个人都可以保护你与埃克森美孚的合同，并确保你对雪佛龙的收购。我的问题是，这是否是一个可以缩短仲裁的妥协？

Michael K. Wirth 迈克尔·K·维尔斯

Yes. Hey, it’s great to hear a familiar voice back on the call, Doug, and I look forward to seeing you in Houston. What you have outlined is very sensible. It could be the foundation for something, but I really can’t comment on specific conversations. I think we have indicated previously that there was a period of time where Hess and Chevron worked with the other partners in the Stabroek block to try to find a resolution here that accommodated everybody’s interests and that time has now passed and we’re in the arbitration process.
是的。嘿，听到你这个熟悉的声音真好，道格，我期待在休斯顿见到你。你所概述的非常合理。这可能是某种事物的基础，但我真的无法对具体的对话发表评论。我认为我们之前已经表明，赫斯和雪佛龙曾与斯塔布罗克区块的其他合作伙伴合作，试图找到一个能满足所有人利益的解决方案，但那个时间已经过去，我们现在处于仲裁过程中。

So, that’s the path that we’re on. We sought something along the lines of an outcome as you described earlier, but it doesn’t appear that, that is how this is going to end up. Everything is confidential obviously the language in the contract and contracts around the world have specific language and in each instance. I think the parties understand how that contract is written and how it would apply. So, I really can’t say anything more about it than that.
所以，这就是我们所走的道路。我们寻求的结果大致如你之前所描述的，但显然这并不是最终的结果。所有内容都是保密的，合同中的语言以及全球各地的合同都有特定的措辞，在每个情况下，我认为各方都理解合同的写作方式及其适用性。因此，我真的无法对此再说更多。

Jake Spiering 杰克·斯皮尔宁

Thanks, Doug. 谢谢，道格。

Operator 操作员

And, the next question comes from Josh Silverstein with UBS.
下一个问题来自瑞银的乔希·西尔弗斯坦。

Josh Silverstein 乔什·西尔弗斯坦

Hey, thanks, good morning, guys. Nice update in the Permian. I was wondering if you could provide a little bit more details around increase in the fourth quarter outlook. Was this due to the new Delaware completion technique from Chevron? Any thoughts on non-op royalty volumes? And then, just looking at the Midland side, was there anything kind of specific as far as the zone or completion that you guys are now shifting away from to get increased productivity there? Thanks.
嗨，谢谢，大家早上好。在二叠纪盆地的更新很不错。我想知道能否提供一些关于第四季度展望增加的更多细节。这是否是由于雪佛龙公司新的特拉华州完井技术？对于非运营权益的产量，你有什么想法？然后，只看米德兰地区，是否有任何特定的区域或完井技术，你们现在正在转变以提高那里的生产效率？谢谢。

Michael K. Wirth 迈克尔·K·维尔斯

Yes. So look, the Permian is performing strongly as you can see in the numbers. And, just to remind everybody about 80% of our program is in the Delaware. Delaware performance is up year-on-year and first half ‘24 production overall in the basin now averaged over 870,000 barrels a day, which is essentially flat or even a touch up from fourth quarter of last year.
是的，正如你们在数字中看到的，二叠纪盆地的表现非常强劲。并且，提醒一下大家，我们大约80%的项目在特拉华州。特拉华州的表现同比有所提升，2024年上半年整个盆地的日产量平均超过了87万桶，这基本上与去年第四季度持平，甚至略有上升。

The drivers of that are improved performance across multiple dimensions of the business and in the base business we’re seeing lower decline from proactive maintenance efforts, lower operated downtime, artificial lift optimization. I mentioned triple-frac earlier, which is reducing costs and increasing cycle time.
推动因素是业务多个维度的绩效提升，在基础业务中，我们看到由于主动维护工作，下降幅度降低，操作停机时间减少，人工提升优化。我之前提到的三重压裂，正在降低成本并提高周期时间。

So, the spud-to-pop cycle has shortened further. So, we’re getting more pop days online than we might have a year ago and well performance as I said in the Delaware has been very strong.
是的，钻探到完井的周期进一步缩短了。因此，我们现在上线的生产天数比一年前要多，正如我所说的，在特拉华州的井表现非常强劲。

In the Midland, some of the first half pops have been a little bit below expectation. There’s only a finite number of pads I could count them on one hand that are involved in this. And we’re always moving into new zones, new acreage. And as part of that, we’ve got an active learning and continuous improvement efforts to be sure we’re optimizing development across the basin because it is not completely homogeneous.
在中部地区，部分上半年的产量略低于预期。我能用一只手数出来的参与者数量是有限的。我们总是在进入新的区域和新的土地。在此过程中，我们积极进行学习和持续改进，以确保我们在整个盆地内优化开发，因为这里并不是完全同质的。

So, as we’re testing new zones to better inform our future development plans, we learn. In this particular case, the learnings will be applied as we go forward. That said, it performed very well in the past.
所以，在我们测试新的区域以更好地为未来的发展计划提供信息时，我们会学习。在这个特定的案例中，这些经验教训将在我们前进的过程中应用。也就是说，它在过去表现得非常好。

I think the thing you can pull up from that and look this is a big long-term asset that’s got a lot of life ahead of us and we should be continually improving in it, so that over time we can deliver even stronger returns, stronger performance and we should be learning as we develop it as the basin matures and it’s exceeding expectations for this year. We’ve raised our full year guidance and we’ve got great confidence in what we’ll deliver in 2025. Thanks, Josh.
我认为你可以从中提取的观点是，这是一个长期的大资产，未来还有很长的路要走，我们应该不断改进，以便随着时间的推移能够提供更强的回报和更强的表现。随着盆地的成熟，我们在开发过程中应该不断学习，今年的表现超出了预期。我们已经提高了全年指引，并对 2025 年的交付充满信心。谢谢，乔希。

Operator 操作员

And the next question comes from Roger Read with Wells Fargo.
下一个问题来自富国银行的罗杰·里德。

Roger Read 罗杰·里德

Hey. Good morning. 嘿。早上好。

Michael K. Wirth 迈克尔·K·维尔斯

Good morning, Roger. 早上好，罗杰。

Roger Read 罗杰·里德

Good morning, Mike. And, yeah, welcome to Texas. If we could maybe dig into the Gulf of Mexico, as you said, the first kind of 20,000 PSI development. What are the -- given that it’s new, what are some of the experiences you’ve had or the industry has had with this level of pressure. And what are some of the things we should be watching for, maybe in another way of asking the question, how have you gotten comfortable on the technology side in terms of bringing this forward and developments behind it?
早上好，迈克。是的，欢迎来到德克萨斯州。如果我们可以深入探讨墨西哥湾，正如你所说的，首个 20,000 PSI 的开发。鉴于这是新的，你和行业在这种压力水平上有哪些经验？我们应该关注哪些方面？换句话说，你在技术方面是如何让自己对推动这一进展及其背后的开发感到舒适的？

Michael K. Wirth 迈克尔·K·维尔斯

Yes. I might make a couple of comments on that and then ask Eimear who before becoming our Chief Financial Officer was our Chief Technology Officer.
是的。我可能会对此做几条评论，然后请 Eimear 在成为我们的首席财务官之前，她是我们的首席技术官。

The moving into that pressure regime, obviously you need bigger equipment because you got to contain higher pressures, you’ve got greater wall thickness on all your equipment, it’s heavier, you need heavier hook loads to lift and deploy equipment. You’ve got a lot of technology qualification to satisfy our own standards and to satisfy the regulator that every element of your kit is proven at pressures well beyond what anything that it will see in service. So, this goes from components large to small and you get into tighter tolerances and a whole host of things as you step up the pressure regime there.
进入那个压力环境显然需要更大的设备，因为你必须承受更高的压力，所有设备的壁厚更大，设备更重，你需要更重的吊钩负荷来提升和部署设备。你需要满足大量的技术认证，以满足我们自己的标准，并让监管机构确认你设备的每个元素在远超其服务压力的情况下都经过验证。因此，从大到小的组件都需要这样处理，随着压力环境的提升，你会遇到更严格的公差和一系列其他要求。

So, I would say that we’ve worked closely with some of our suppliers who have developed the specific equipment that is in place and we’re very pleased with everything from the drilling rigs and the equipment that’s used in drilling to trees and production kit both subsurface and surface.
所以，我想说我们与一些供应商紧密合作，他们开发了现有的特定设备，我们对从钻井平台到钻井中使用的设备，再到地下和地面生产设备的所有一切都非常满意。

Eimear, you might have some thoughts from your technology days to share with folks.
艾梅尔，你可能有一些来自你科技时代的想法可以与大家分享。
虽然是个技术，但这样的回答看上去一般。

Eimear P. Bonner 艾梅尔·P·博纳

Yes. Mike, you hit on one key thing and that is that the partnership that was demonstrated here with ourselves with industry partners to be able to deliver the first 20ks subsea development.
是的，迈克，你提到了一个关键点，那就是我们与行业合作伙伴之间展示的合作关系，使我们能够交付首个 20 公里的海底开发。

And to your question in terms of how did we get comfortable, I think it was because we brought the best of our engineers, the best of our suppliers, and the best technology that we had, several examples of technology, proprietary technology that we brought. And the extensive, testing, quality testing that took place before we went out to the field.
对于你提到的我们是如何变得自信的问题，我认为这是因为我们汇聚了最优秀的工程师、最好的供应商，以及我们拥有的最佳技术，带来了几种专有技术。此外，在我们走向现场之前进行了广泛的测试和质量测试。

So, some things to mention, just to put that in perspective, we delivered the first 20k subsea well completion and subsea production trees and manifolds. So, this is the core equipment that protects us from loss of containment and ensures that we safely and reliably can operate the field.
有些事项需要提及，只是为了让大家了解这一点，我们交付了首个2万磅水下完井和水下生产树以及多路分配器。因此，这是我们保护不受容器泄漏影响的核心设备，并确保我们能够安全、可靠地操作油田。

We drilled wells. We developed a drilling rig. We built a drilling rig with our partners to enable drilling at these depths and the equipment to allow us to do that. That had very special dynamic positioning and technology as well.
我们钻了井。我们开发了一台钻机。我们与合作伙伴一起建造了一台钻机，以便在这些深度进行钻探，并配备了相应的设备。这台钻机具有非常特殊的动态定位和技术。

On the subsurface side, when we think about the prospect and how we were able to see the prospect and get some a really good accurate image of the prospect, we used our proprietary seismic technology here.
在地下方面，当我们考虑前景以及我们如何能够看到前景并获得一些非常准确的前景图像时，我们在这里使用了我们的专有地震技术。

This is more of our in-house Chevron proprietary technology to help us with that image and that enabled us to make the right decisions about the development and optimize the development. So, those are just a couple of examples of where the surface and the subsurface technology really enabled us to achieve this outcome.
这是我们雪佛龙公司内部专有技术，帮助我们获得那种图像，并使我们能够就开发做出正确的决策并优化开发。所以，这只是表面技术和地下技术真正使我们实现这一成果的几个例子。

Operator 操作员

And the next question will come from Devin McDermott with Morgan Stanley.
下一个问题来自摩根士丹利的德文·麦克德莫特。

Devin McDermott 德文·麦克德莫特

Hey. Good morning. Thanks for taking my question. Eimear, I wanted to stick with you, and I have a bit of a strategy question for you.
嘿，早上好。谢谢你回答我的问题。Eimear，我想和你聊聊，我有一个关于策略的问题想问你。

If we kind of put together several of things that’s been talked about on this call so far, the TCO start up, strong Permian production growth, rising production in the Gulf of Mexico, it all kind of materializes in the form of this inflection in free cash flow as we go into 2025 and beyond.
如果我们将到目前为止在这个电话中讨论的几个内容结合起来，包括 TCO 的启动、强劲的二叠纪生产增长、墨西哥湾的产量上升，这一切在 2025 年及以后都以自由现金流的拐点形式显现出来。

And Chevron has historically had four, I think, very consistent priorities for use of cash. But now that you’ve had some time in the CFO’s team, I was wondering if you could talk about your views for the optimal use of cash, especially in the context of your current low leverage levels and how you’re thinking about the trade-off between further dividend growth or more buybacks as cash flow rises over the next few years?
雪佛龙历史上有四个非常一致的现金使用优先级。但现在你们CFO团队已经有一些时间了，我想知道你能否谈谈你对最佳现金使用的看法，特别是在你当前低杠杆水平的背景下，以及你是如何考虑在未来几年现金流增加时，进一步增加股息或增加回购的权衡？

Eimear P. Bonner 艾梅尔·P·博纳

Yes. Thanks, Devin. Well, I’m thinking about it consistent with how we have for decades and consistent with our long-standing financial priorities. So, just to step through them, first, it’s growing the dividend, that’s our first priority. So, cash that enables us to continue with our track record of growing the dividend for 37 years.
是的。谢谢你，德文。好吧，我在考虑这与我们几十年来的做法一致，并与我们长期以来的财务优先事项一致。所以，简单来说，首先是增加股息，这是我们的首要任务。因此，现金使我们能够继续保持 37 年来增长股息的良好记录。

So, that’s the first priority. And when we look at the projects that we have and the growth that’s underway that Mike talked about, our 10% free cash flow growth really supports future dividend increases. So, when we think of cash, that’s where it goes, first and foremost.
所以，这就是第一优先事项。当我们查看我们拥有的项目以及迈克所提到的正在进行的增长时，我们的 10%自由现金流增长确实支持未来的股息增加。因此，当我们考虑现金时，这就是它首先去的地方。

Secondly, is to invest in the business to deliver profitable growth and do that capital efficiently. This is an area of leadership for Chevron when you look at the percentage of the CapEx as a percentage of CFFO. So, I’m focused on ensuring that we maintain leadership in this area.
其次，是投资于业务以实现盈利增长，并高效地使用资本。当你查看资本支出占现金流量的百分比时，这在雪佛龙是一个领导力的领域。因此，我专注于确保我们在这一领域保持领导地位。

To your point about the balance sheet, our third priority is to maintain a strong balance sheet, and we are currently under levered and we expect and are comfortable to modestly relever over time, but to stay within historical ranges. And we look at our balance sheet as an asset to create value, and manage volatility and ensure steady capital returns through the cycle.
关于您提到的资产负债表，我们的第三个优先事项是保持强健的资产负债表，目前我们的杠杆水平较低，我们预计并且乐于在一段时间内适度增加杠杆，但会保持在历史范围内。我们将资产负债表视为创造价值的资产，管理波动性，并确保在整个周期内稳定的资本回报。

And when we’ve satisfied all three of the financial priorities, the fourth is to return surplus cash to shareholders through buybacks and that’s what we intend to do and we take a multi-year view of that considering a range of commodity prices.
当我们满足所有三个财务优先事项后，第四个优先事项是通过回购将多余现金返还给股东，这正是我们打算做的，我们会考虑一系列商品价格，以多年的视角来看待这一点。

So, in my time with the company in the business side and on the corporate side, I’ve seen how these financial priorities have served us well and they’ll continue to serve us well. And so in my time, they’re not going to change. Thanks.
在我与公司在业务和企业方面的时间里，我看到这些财务优先事项为我们带来了良好的效果，并将继续为我们服务。因此，在我的任期内，它们不会改变。谢谢。
可能跟BRK不一样，CVX首先考虑的是股息，有策略并且能长期坚持的肯定好过于没有和模糊的做法。

Operator 操作员

And the next question comes from Nitin Kumar with Mizuho.
下一个问题来自瑞穗的尼廷·库马尔。

Nitin Kumar 尼廷·库马尔

Hi, good morning, Mike, and thanks for taking our questions. I want to maybe shift focus on the downstream side. Last quarter you had a heavy turnaround schedule and just the way cracks worked out, it probably wasn’t the best timing. As you’re coming out of that turnaround, what are you seeing in your markets? And if you can maybe touch on renewable diesel specifically with Geismar coming on later this year, what’s the outlook for economics of biofuels?
嗨，早上好，迈克，谢谢你回答我们的提问。我想把焦点转向下游方面。上个季度你们有一个繁重的检修计划，而裂解的情况也不太理想，时机可能不是最好。随着你们走出检修期，你们在市场上看到了什么？如果可以的话，能否具体谈谈可再生柴油，特别是Geismar将在今年晚些时候投产的情况，生物燃料的经济前景如何？

Michael K. Wirth 迈克尔·K·维尔斯

Yes. So, you’re right. We had some turnaround activity in the second quarter that occurred during the more attractive margin portion of the quarter and then we had more capacity back online as margins dropped precipitously in some cases. So, we didn’t capture as much as we could because of the timing of some of our activity.
是的。你说得对。我们在第二季度有一些周转活动发生在季度中更具吸引力的利润率部分，然后随着某些情况下利润率急剧下降，我们的产能恢复了更多。因此，由于我们一些活动的时机，我们没有捕捉到尽可能多的机会。

Globally product demand is decent. Overall demand for oil is going to be up 1% to 2%. Most products have recovered to pre-COVID levels plus or minus. And we see, I think decent economic growth underway around the world. We’ve had some new refining capacity come into the system in the Middle East, in Africa, in Mexico, and in Asia.
全球产品需求良好。整体石油需求将增长 1%到 2%。大多数产品已经恢复到疫情前的水平上下波动。我们看到，全球经济增长正在稳步进行。中东、非洲、墨西哥和亚洲的新炼油能力已经投入使用。
这个增长速度跟可口可乐相似。

So, it’s coming online, so it’s in startup. So, you’re seeing some capacity come online and inventories have all risen over the first half of the year and they’re at or above five-year levels. For some period of time, we’ve been of the view that margins were going to revert towards mid cycle by this year or next year and that’s certainly I think what we see going on in some cases. Mid cycle has been pretty tough in some parts of the world and we’re back to pretty tough margins.
是的，它正在上线，所以它处于启动阶段。所以你看到一些产能正在上线，库存在今年上半年都有所上升，达到了或超过了五年水平。有一段时间，我们认为利润率将在今明两年回归到中期周期，这确实是我认为在某些情况下正在发生的事情。在世界某些地区，中期周期一直很艰难，我们又回到了相当艰难的利润率。

And that’s maybe a way to transition to renewable fuels, where these are markets that are heavily influenced not just by supply and demand, but also by policy, because a lot of the value is driven through the credits associated with those.
这也许是过渡到可再生燃料的一种方式，这些市场不仅受到供需的影响，还受到政策的影响，因为很多价值是通过与这些相关的信用驱动的。

We’ve seen periods of time in the past where the targets didn’t come out of EPA until after the compliance year had already ended, which was challenging. We’ve now seen APA get ahead of the game and set numbers well out into the future.
在过去的某些时期，我们看到环保署（EPA）的目标直到合规年度结束后才公布，这带来了挑战。现在我们已经看到美国石油协会（APA）提前行动，提前设定了远期的数字。

And it’s hard for people to anticipate markets. And so right now what we’ve got is a market where a lot of capacity has been incentivized and we don’t have the RBOs that necessarily match up with it. So, in an over supplied market credit values are down both at federal level and at state level. We welcome to our margin business. This is the way value chain businesses work at least through my career, much of which has been in the Downstream and you need to be prepared for it.
人们很难预测市场。所以我们现在面临的是一个大量产能被激励出来的市场，而我们并没有与之匹配的RBOs（可能指“剩余基础油”或“备用油”）。因此，在供应过剩的市场中，无论是在联邦层面还是在州层面，信贷价值都下降了。这对我们的边际业务是有好处的。至少在我的职业生涯中，价值链业务就是这样运作的，其中大部分是在下游业务中，你需要为此做好准备。

And you need to have a capital efficient investment philosophy, which we do. Some of our refinery investments have been to create flexibility to move back and forth between fossil feed and renewable feed. We’ve done that. We’ve idled some plants, which you do when you’re in a period like this and we’re completing the Geismar project, which will give us scale and importantly feedstock flexibility.
你需要拥有一个资本高效的投资理念，我们确实如此。我们的一些炼油厂投资是为了创造灵活性，以便在化石燃料和可再生燃料之间来回转换。我们已经这样做了。我们已经闲置了一些工厂，这是在像现在这样的时期你会做的事情，我们正在完成Geismar项目，这将给我们规模，并且重要的是原料灵活性。

And in the margin business, you need to have access to affordable, competitive and reliable feedstock. The flexibility that Geismar will have will allow it to compete very well. We’ve got another project underway, a joint venture with Bunge to move back into the bean crush portion of the value chain, which further helps us assure competitive supply into Geismar.
在边际业务中，您需要获得负担得起、具有竞争力和可靠的原料。Geismar 将拥有的灵活性将使其能够很好地竞争。我们还有另一个项目正在进行中，与邦吉的合资企业，重新进入价值链的豆类压榨部分，这进一步帮助我们确保向 Geismar 提供具有竞争力的供应。

But this is a business where we’re going to see periods of time where margins are tough and you probably see some competitive capacity under pressure and so that shutdown and over time then they’ll tend to cycle the other way.
这是一个我们会看到利润率紧张的时期，你可能会看到一些竞争性产能面临压力，所以会有关闭，而随着时间的推移，它们往往会朝相反的方向循环。

So, we’re in this business for the long haul. We think drop in renewable fuels are going to be part of creating a lower carbon energy system in the future. And we’re very committed to that business through good times and through the challenging times we’ll be pragmatic, efficient and value chain oriented in optimizing that business.
所以，我们在这个行业是为了长远发展。我们认为可再生燃料的引入将成为未来建立低碳能源系统的一部分。无论是在顺境还是逆境，我们都非常致力于这项业务，我们将务实、高效，并以价值链为导向来优化这项业务。
XOM也做了，看上去态度更清晰，对生物能源不感兴趣，并且不是重点。

Operator 操作员

And the next question will come from Jason Gabelman with TD Cowen.
下一个问题来自 TD Cowen 的 Jason Gabelman。

Jason Gabelman 杰森·盖布尔曼

Good morning. Thanks for taking my question. You guys have built out a pretty larger exploration portfolio the past few years and I think you’re starting to delineate some of that acreage. And I’m wondering, out of the positions you’ve amassed around the world, what you’re most excited about? And then related to that specifically on Namibia, there’s a lot of interest in the market about that region.
早上好。感谢您回答我的问题。你们在过去几年里建立了一个相当大的勘探组合，我认为你们开始划分一些土地。我想知道，在你们在全球积累的各个位置中，最让你们兴奋的是什么？然后，关于纳米比亚，市场对该地区有很多兴趣。

Could you remind us what your drilling plans are for that region this year and any interest in consolidating the space given a number of small and large players over there? Thanks.
您能提醒我们您今年在该地区的钻探计划是什么，以及考虑到那里的许多小型和大型参与者，是否有兴趣整合这个领域吗？谢谢。

Michael K. Wirth 迈克尔·K·维尔斯

Yes. Thanks, Jason. You’re right. We have added some new acreage to our portfolio and some acreage that’s in areas that are kind of more frontier than some of the stuff we’ve historically held.
是的。谢谢，杰森。你说得对。我们已经将一些新的土地纳入我们的投资组合，还有一些位于相对更边缘地区的土地，这些地区与我们历史上持有的土地相比有所不同。

Look, we’re excited about I’m excited about any number of regions in the world. I’ll start with the Gulf of Mexico where we’ve got projects lined up as I mentioned earlier and a lot of expertise. We’re one of the largest leaseholders in the Deepwater Gulf of Mexico. And as we move into these higher pressure regimes, we’re well positioned to continue to have exploration success and development success there.
看，我们对世界各地的多个地区感到兴奋。我先从墨西哥湾开始，我们已经有了如前所述的项目，并且拥有丰富的专业知识。我们是墨西哥湾深水区最大的租赁持有者之一。随着我们进入这些高压环境，我们在那里的勘探和开发成功的前景非常好。

The second one I’ll point to is the Eastern Mediterranean, where we’ve got interesting acreage in the offshore western portion waters off of Egypt. We’ve got some plans to drill there. We’ve got a discovery where we’ll do a delineation well on the Nargis discovery.
我想提到的第二个地方是东地中海，我们在埃及西部沿海的海域拥有一些有趣的土地。我们计划在那里进行钻探。我们在 Nargis 发现处有一个发现，我们将进行一个勘探井。

And then the third one I would point to is West Africa and that would include existing positions in places like Nigeria, Angola, Equatorial Guinea and Namibia, where there’s certainly been a lot of interest lately in Namibia.
然后我想提到的第三个地区是西非，这包括在尼日利亚、安哥拉、赤道几内亚和纳米比亚等地的现有职位，最近在纳米比亚确实引起了很多关注。

We’ve seen others make some discoveries. In the Orange Basin, we’ve got a lease PEL 90, which sits just outboard of where an interesting discovery has recently been made. And we’ve got a well there that will spud in the fourth quarter of this year. It will be completed in early 2025. We’ve already executed the Reagan well construction contract. So, we’re very excited to see what that delivers.
我们已经看到其他人取得了一些发现。在奥兰治盆地，我们拥有PEL 90租约，它位于最近发现了一个有趣发现的区域的外侧。我们在那里有一口井，将在今年的第四季度开钻。它将在2025年初完成。我们已经执行了里根井的建设合同。所以我们非常期待看到它带来的成果。

In terms of additional acreage in Nigeria, we farmed into a block in the Walvis Basin, PEL 82 and are interested in continuing to add to our acreage position there if opportunities present themselves.
在尼日利亚的额外土地方面，我们在瓦尔维斯盆地的 PEL 82 区块进行了耕作，如果有机会，我们有兴趣继续增加在那里的土地面积。

So, we’ve got three ways of bringing resource into the company. You can explore for it and discover it. You can acquire it or you can unlock it through technology and all three of those receive lot of attention. We’ve got talented people working in each area to bring resource in through all of them. But I’m excited about some of the new exploration acreage that we’re adding. Thanks, Jason.
我们有三种方式将资源引入公司。你可以勘探并发现它。你可以收购它，或者你可以通过技术解锁它，这三种方式都得到了很多关注。我们有才华横溢的人在每个领域工作，通过所有这些方式引入资源。但我对我们正在增加的一些新勘探区域感到兴奋。谢谢，Jason。
不确定的地区，不确定的做法。

Operator 操作员

The next question comes from Bob Brackett with Bernstein.
下一个问题来自伯恩斯坦的鲍勃·布拉基特。

Bob Brackett 鲍勃·布拉凯特

Good morning. I had a question given that you have a unique position in Venezuela and we’re watching an election and a post-election unfold. Any comments on what you’re seeing from your folks on the ground? And maybe if there’s any vision, what your role in Venezuela could look like in a range of presidential outcomes?
早上好。我有一个问题，因为您在委内瑞拉的独特位置，我们正在关注一场选举及其后续情况。您对您所在地区的人们所看到的情况有什么评论？如果有任何展望，您在委内瑞拉的角色在不同的总统结果中可能会是什么样的？

Michael K. Wirth 迈克尔·K·维尔斯

Yes. Bob, on the ground, what we’re doing is really monitoring the situation. You’ve seen the news coverage and our focus remains on the safety of our employees and their families and the integrity of the assets in our joint venture operations.
是的。鲍勃，我们在地面上所做的实际上是监测情况。你已经看到了新闻报道，我们的重点仍然是员工及其家属的安全，以及我们合资企业运营中资产的完整性。

We’ve been a constructive presence in Venezuela for most of the last 100 years. We conduct our business there in compliance with their laws as well as the laws of the U.S, which in this particular case are administered under a general license issued by the Treasury Department.
我们在过去 100 年中大部分时间里一直是委内瑞拉的建设性存在。我们在那里的业务遵循当地法律以及美国法律，在这种特定情况下，遵循的是财政部颁发的一般许可证。

And we’ve seen some encouraging results here recently since the issuance of the most recent general license, our JVs are produced around 200,000 barrels a day. We’re being repaid debt that we have been owed and are steadily achieving that objective. We’ve also seen the extension of some of the concessions on some of these non-operated joint ventures that we are involved in.
最近自最新通用许可证发布以来，我们已经看到了一些令人鼓舞的结果，我们的合资企业每天生产约20万桶。我们正在收回我们应得的债务，并且正在稳步实现这一目标。我们还看到了我们参与的一些非运营合资企业的特许权的延期。

So, we remain apolitical in Venezuela and in other countries. We’re there to help develop the economy, support the people, create jobs and not get involved in politics which can swing in any country from party to party.
因此，我们在委内瑞拉和其他国家保持中立。我们在那里帮助发展经济，支持人民，创造就业机会，而不参与可能在任何国家之间从一个政党转向另一个政党的政治。

And we have found that it’s best to work with the government that’s in power, respect the fact that that is the government that we have, but not take positions that would make it difficult for us to continue to work with a subsequent government. So, we don’t have a role in selecting governments, we’re a commercial player, not a political player. And again, our focus is really on keeping our people safe and the assets protected. Thank you, Bob.
我们发现，与执政政府合作是最好的，尊重我们所拥有的政府这一事实，但不采取可能使我们难以与后续政府继续合作的立场。因此，我们在选择政府方面没有角色，我们是商业参与者，而不是政治参与者。再次强调，我们的重点是确保我们的员工安全和资产保护。谢谢你，鲍勃。

Operator 操作员

And next is Neal Dingmann with Truist.
接下来是 Neal Dingmann 与 Truist。

Neal Dingmann 尼尔·丁曼

Good morning. Thanks for getting in. Mike, my question for you and the team is just on OFS costs. I’m just wondering if you’ve seen any change in prices given the very recent fall in oil prices. And if so, or just going forward, would you expect to see maybe domestic cost hold while international stays firmer or vice versa?
早上好。感谢你们的到来。迈克，我想问你和团队关于 OFS 成本的问题。我想知道你们是否注意到由于最近油价的下跌，价格有任何变化。如果有，或者展望未来，你们是否预计国内成本会保持稳定，而国际成本则会更坚挺，或者反之？

Michael K. Wirth 迈克尔·K·维尔斯

Yes, certainly in the economy broadly speaking, we have seen inflation pressures easing and I think that’s good for consumers, it’s good for economic growth. These things vary across geographies and as you say, you can see different dynamics in the onshore and the offshore.
是的，当然从整体经济来看，我们已经看到通胀压力在减轻，我认为这对消费者和经济增长都是好事。这些情况在不同地区有所不同，正如你所说的，你可以看到在岸和离岸的不同动态。

We are seeing some softening of pressure in the onshore, some declining in prices for oil country or oil class tubulars, rigs, prop and trucking. Some of the frac services are more stable. We have a contracting approach that generally sets up index-based pricing over longer periods of time which tends to buffer increases. It can also buffer the decreases. So, we’re not a big spot player. We tend to have longer term contracts and look for things that allow our suppliers to plan their work and allocate their people and resources accordingly.
我们看到陆上压力有所减轻，油田或油类管材、钻机、支撑和运输的价格有所下降。一些压裂服务相对稳定。我们采取的合同方式通常设定基于指数的定价，持续时间较长，这有助于缓冲价格上涨，也能缓冲价格下跌。因此，我们不是一个大宗现货交易者。我们倾向于签订长期合同，并寻找能够让我们的供应商规划工作并相应分配人员和资源的方式。

And some of these things lag on the way up, they lag a little bit on the way down. But I think in the onshore, you’re right, you’re seeing some easing of pressures. I think in the offshore, you’re seeing a little bit of a reverse.
有些事情在上升时滞后，在下降时也会滞后一点。但我认为在岸上，你说得对，压力有所缓解。我认为在岸外，你看到了一些反向的情况。

There is more activity going on in the Deepwater. You’re seeing rig rates firm in some cases. So, this is a place where we also take a longer term contracting approach. We’ve got multiple rigs contracted out over multiple years. They are typically laddered, so that they don’t expire simultaneously and we’ve lagged into the market across the cycle, so that we’re not exposed to any one particular point in time. So, certainly not the inflationary pressure we’ve seen a couple of years ago.
在深水区的活动增多。在某些情况下，钻井平台的租金也在上涨。因此，这里也是我们采取长期合同方式的地方。我们已经签订了多年的多个钻井平台合同。它们通常是分期到期的，以避免同时到期，并且我们在整个周期中逐步进入市场，以避免在某个特定时间点的风险。因此，显然没有我们几年前看到的通货膨胀压力。

Thank you, Neal. 谢谢你，尼尔。

Operator 操作员

And the next question comes from Geoff Jay with Daniel Energy Partners.
下一个问题来自 Daniel Energy Partners 的 Geoff Jay。

Geoff Jay 杰夫·杰伊

Hey, guys. This is, maybe a follow-up to Jason’s question about exploration earlier, but I noticed you got involved in Uruguay back in March. Is that an analog to the Orange or Walvis basins? And just wonder if you can maybe update us on what you think the potential could be there and what the timeline of exploration might be there?
嘿，大家好。这可能是对杰森之前关于勘探问题的跟进，但我注意到你们在三月份参与了乌拉圭。那是否可以类比于橙色或瓦尔维斯盆地？我想知道你们能否更新一下你们对那里的潜力的看法，以及那里的勘探时间表可能是什么？

Michael K. Wirth 迈克尔·K·维尔斯

Yes. So, we did pick up a block off Uruguay and there are beliefs that there are certain conjugate margin analogs that we see on the South American side of the Atlantic. Obviously, there’s a lot of work that needs to be done to explore those theories and in some instances we have seen evidence that supports it in other instances less so. So, we’ve also picked up some acreage in Brazil, in Suriname. So, across that whole Eastern Coast of South America, we have got some pretty good exposure and intend to do the geotechnical work and seismic work to understand the prospectivity of it.
是的。我们确实在乌拉圭获得了一个区块，并且有一些信念认为，在大西洋南美一侧，我们看到了一些共轭边缘的类似物。显然，还有很多工作需要进行，以探索这些理论，在某些情况下，我们确实看到了支持这些理论的证据，而在其他情况下则不太明显。因此，我们还在巴西和苏里南获得了一些土地。因此，在南美东海岸的整个区域，我们有相当不错的曝光，并打算进行地质技术和地震工作，以了解其前景。

So, very early days on that particular prospect, but we’re intrigued by it and it’s an example of what I mentioned earlier that we’re moving into some areas that are a little more frontier than where we’ve been over the last number of years.
所以，在这个特定的前景上，我们还处于非常早期的阶段，但我们对此很感兴趣，这也是我之前提到的一个例子，说明我们正在进入一些比过去几年更具前沿性的领域。

Operator 操作员

And the next question will come from Betty Jiang with Barclays.
下一个问题来自巴克莱的贝蒂·姜。

Betty Jiang 贝蒂·姜

Good morning. Thanks for taking my question. I want to go back to the Permian. It’s great to see the momentum, the operational momentum you’re seeing on the operator side. Just given the triple fracs and certainly acceleration of the cycle time, curious how you think about this, pull forward of activity. Would you likely to do more with the same equipment, or would things slow down or ended up using less equipment? And also curious about what you’re seeing on your royalty and non-operated production front as well?
早上好。感谢您回答我的问题。我想回到二叠纪。看到您在运营方面的势头真是太好了。考虑到三重压裂和周期时间的加速，我很好奇您对此的看法，活动的提前推进。您是否更可能使用相同的设备进行更多操作，还是事情会放缓，最终使用更少的设备？我也对您在特许权和非运营生产方面的情况感到好奇。

Michael K. Wirth 迈克尔·K·维尔斯

Okay. Let me start with the royalty and non op first. We’re continuing to see strong contributions from that. We’ve got line of sight to essentially all the AFEs this year across that acreage and it’s been if you want to call it the upside performance we’ve seen this year has been spread across all three of those portions of our business, company operated royalty and NOJV. So, strong contributions from those two.
好的。让我先从特许权使用费和非运营合作开始。我们继续看到强劲的贡献。我们对今年在那片土地上的所有 AFE 都有清晰的视野，如果你想称之为我们今年看到的上行表现，那就是在我们业务的这三个部分中分布均匀，公司运营的特许权使用费和非运营合资。因此，这两者的贡献都很强劲。

When you get to the Permian, yes, these efficiencies have accelerated activity. We get through more lateral feet of wells, we complete more feet, we use more consumables and sand and everything as we do that.
当你到达二叠纪时，是的，这些效率加快了活动。我们钻探更多的水平井，完成更多的井深，使用更多的消耗品和沙子，随着我们的进展。

Some of the easing of pressure on cost of goods and inputs helps us offset that and so we are trying to manage, we are going to manage to our CapEx numbers. And you can expect us to balance out activity and capital. We’re not going to get off to the races on capital. We’re going to see very disciplined out of the budget is a budget.
一些商品和投入成本压力的缓解帮助我们抵消了这一点，因此我们正在努力管理，我们将管理我们的资本支出数字。你可以期待我们在活动和资本之间取得平衡。我们不会在资本上急于求成。我们将看到非常有纪律的预算，预算就是预算。

But the nice thing is we’re getting -- because of the improved cycle times, improved efficiencies, we’re getting more productivity out of the equipments, we’re getting more production per unit of capital input and that really is the story here.
但好的一点是，由于周期时间的改善和效率的提高，我们从设备中获得了更多的生产力，每单位资本投入的产量也在增加，这确实是这里的关键。

So, you can expect us to land our capital as we’ve guided it at close to $5 billion and the production as we have guided in our prepared remarks.
因此，您可以期待我们将资本按我们所指导的接近 50 亿美元进行投资，以及我们在准备的发言中所指导的生产。

Operator 操作员

And our last question comes from John Royall with JPMorgan.
我们的最后一个问题来自摩根大通的约翰·罗伊尔。

John Royall 约翰·罗伊尔

Hi, good morning. Thanks for taking my question. So, my question is just if you could give some color on the downtime you saw both Gorgon and Wheatstone in 2Q. What was the source of those outages? And how are the facilities running now? And maybe include some color on the planned work you called out for Gorgon in 3Q?
嗨，早上好。感谢您回答我的问题。我的问题是，您能否详细说明在第二季度 Gorgon 和 Wheatstone 的停机时间？这些停机的原因是什么？现在这些设施的运行情况如何？另外，您能否提供一些关于第三季度 Gorgon 计划工作的详细信息？

Eimear P. Bonner 艾梅尔·P·博纳

Yes, John. So, the down time in upstream in May and June was associated with some unplanned events in Gorgon and Wheatstone. So, on Gorgon, there was a blade failure. So, they had to take some time to repair that. They used the time when they were down to try and do as much maintenance as possible. On Wheatstone, they actually had a gas leak that was discovered by an operator. And we’re always going to shut the plant down and repair any leaks in the spirit of operational excellence. So, they repaired that, it was on the fuel gas system and got things back up and running.
是的，John。所以，5月和6月上游的停机时间与Gorgon和Wheatstone的一些非计划事件有关。在Gorgon，有一个叶片故障。因此，他们不得不花一些时间来修理。他们利用停机时间尽可能多地进行维护。在Wheatstone，他们实际上有一个气体泄漏，是由操作员发现的。我们总是会在运营卓越的精神下关闭工厂并修复任何泄漏。所以，他们修复了这个问题，这是在燃料气系统上，然后让一切重新运行起来。

So, the repairs were executed safely and efficiently and we still expect both of those assets to run with good reliability this year with top quartile performance.
因此，维修工作安全高效地完成，我们仍然期望这两个资产在今年能够以良好的可靠性运行，并达到顶级四分位的表现。

The Gorgon, asset turnaround is currently underway and that’s going really well. So, we expect that to come in under the planned duration this quarter.
Gorgon的资产重组目前正在进行中，进展非常顺利。因此，我们预计本季度将低于计划的时间。

And even with or despite the downtime, we expect to close the full year and deliver on the plant production for the combined Australia assets.
即使有停机时间，我们仍然预计全年完成并交付澳大利亚资产的工厂生产。

Michael K. Wirth 迈克尔·K·维尔斯

Thanks, John. I would like to thank everyone for your time today. We appreciate your interest in Chevron and your participation on today’s call. Please stay safe and healthy. Justin, back to you.
谢谢，约翰。我想感谢大家今天的时间。我们感谢您对雪佛龙的关注以及您今天电话会议的参与。请保持安全和健康。贾斯廷，回到你。

Operator 操作员

Thank you. This concludes Chevron’s second quarter 2024 earnings conference call. You may now disconnect.
谢谢。这结束了雪佛龙 2024 年第二季度的财报电话会议。您现在可以挂断。

    热门主题

    PGR
    CB
    AXP
    V
    MA
    COF
    AAPL
    GOOG
    MSFT
    AMZN
    NVDA
    TSLA
    TCEHY
    IBKR​
    KO
    OXY
    CNOOC
    RMD
    Right People
    Warren Buffett
    Steve Jobs
    Ideas
    I.C.S
    I.C.S.Capital