Chevron CEO Mike Wirth said the emergency oil buffers that softened the market after the Iran conflict began have been largely depleted and cannot be repeated indefinitely, leaving crude vulnerable to fresh disruptions. He is backing that view with a Venezuela expansion aimed at more than doubling output there by early next decade, funded entirely with cash generated by Chevron's existing Venezuelan joint ventures. Output across the three joint ventures has already climbed from 40,000 to 250,000 barrels per day, and Wirth said Chevron is in negotiations to improve fiscal terms and enable more investment in Venezuela, with debt recovery expected to be complete by early 2027. Brent settled at $109.51 on September 9, 2026, well above the $61.35 close on December 31, 2025, while Chevron's Q2 adjusted EPS was $6.06 on revenue of $67.20 billion, up 51.43% year over year, with free cash flow of $18.10 billion and record worldwide production of 4,070 MBOED. CVX trades at $214.04, up 44.35% year to date, on a forward earnings multiple of 16x with a 3.28% dividend yield and a 39th consecutive annual dividend increase.
Chevron CorpChevron backs Venezuela expansion to more than double output, funded by existing JV cash flow, boosting its production capacity.
