The Rising Influence of Rising Affluence

[DewDiligence]

CVX issued a PR this morning to clarify the discrepancy between the 2.75 and 2.78 figures I was talking about in #msg-56610359:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Chevron-Affirms-FullYear-Net-bw-1352192879.html?x=0&.v=1

In other words, CVX did not cut its 2010 production forecast. Contrary to what some newswires printed yesterday, CVX had never issued a forecast of 2.78M boe/d. The newswire authors evidently misunderstood slide #27 in yesterday’s webcast (http://phx.corporate-ir.net/External.File?item=UGFyZW50SUQ9NzAzMDV8Q2hpbGRJRD0tMXxUeXBlPTM=&t=1 ); in slide #27, the 2.78 figure is what CVX’s 2010 production forecast would have been if the average price of oil in 2010 had been the same as in 2009.

The price of oil affects CVX’s production insofar as the production-sharing agreements on certain projects reduce CVX’s percentage of gross production slightly when the price of oil rises. This is an industry-standard practice.