Chevron Corp. expects to report “notably higher” results for 4Q2012 than profits in the previous three months, management said in an interim update.

The second largest oil company in the United States said late Thursday the final three months of 2012 were lifted by bigger gains on asset sales, along with higher oil and natural gas output. Chevron earned $4.25 billion ($2.69/share) in 3Q2012, but that number was well below earnings in 3Q2011 (see Daily GPI, Nov. 5, 2012).

Wall Street has pegged Chevron’s 4Q2012 earnings to average $3.03/share when results are issued on Feb. 1.

U.S. oil and gas production rose by 39,000 boe/d in October and November following a recovery in the Gulf of Mexico after Hurricane Issac. Domestic gas output was down year/year in October and November at 1.17 Bcf/d from 1.29 Bcf/d.

Chevron gained output in October and November from its Permian Basin acquisition from Chesapeake Energy Corp. (see Daily GPI, Sept. 17, 2012). Chesapeake sold property to Chevron in the northern Delaware Basin, which was producing 7,000 boe/d net. Chevron already had close to 700,000 net acres in the Permian.

The producer’s realized natural gas prices in October and November were $3.14/Mcf, up 51 cents year/year but down from $3.62 for the full 4Q2011 quarter. U.S. oil realizations gained 27 cents to $97.61/bbl in the two-month period of 2012 from the same period of 2011.

©Copyright 2013Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. The preceding news reportmay not be republished or redistributed, in whole or in part, in anyform, without prior written consent of Intelligence Press, Inc.