Chevron Third-Quarter Earnings Fell Amid Lower Output

(Corrects percentage decline in second paragraph.)

Chevron Corp. (CVX) said third-quarter earnings were “substantially” lower than second-quarter results amid lower oil output, falling crude prices and weaker U.S. refining returns. The stock fell 1.7 percent.

Oil and natural gas output fell 4 percent to the equivalent of 2.518 million barrels a day in June and July from 2.624 million for the entire second quarter, the San Ramon, California-based company said in a statement today.

Chevron said production fell as Hurricane Isaac shut wells in the Gulf of Mexico and oilfield repairs were carried out in the U.K. and Kazakhstan. The company received an average price of $96.86 for each barrel of crude pumped outside the U.S., 2.4 percent less than in the prior quarter.

Chevron’s refining profit declined after an August fire damaged a crude-processing unit at a Richmond, California, plant. The unit will remain out of service through the end of December, the company said. A refinery in Pascagoula, Mississippi, was shut for part of the quarter as Isaac passed through the region, according to the statement.

Chevron declined 1.7 percent to $115.36 at 5:25 p.m. in New York.

Chevron, the second-largest U.S. energy company by market value, is scheduled to release full third-quarter results on Nov. 2. Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) is the biggest U.S. energy company.

To contact the reporter on this story: Joe Carroll in Chicago at jcarroll8@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Susan Warren at susanwarren@bloomberg.net