据彭博新闻社2021年7月30日报道，雪佛龙公司恢复了一年多前暂停的股票回购，此举表明雪佛龙公司相信大宗商品价格高企带来的强劲现金流将在未来很长一段时间内持续下去。
股票回购将在今年第三季度开始，每年规模在20亿至30亿美元之间，约为去年初暂停之前投入的金额的一半。 在雪佛龙公司之前，荷兰皇家壳牌公司和法国道达尔能源公司也采取了类似的举措，它们在7月29日恢复了股票回购。
雪佛龙公司首席财务官Pierre Breber在接受媒体采访时说：“这表明我们对未来充满信心。 之所以选择这一水平，是因为这确实是一个让我们能够继续偿还债务的范围。”
由于钢铁制造商、零售商和制造商等不同行业乘着经济扩张的高潮，股票回购正在全面复苏或提高。 特别是，大型石油公司的高管们正寻求在大宗商品价格上涨之际回报股东。大宗商品价格上涨与此前的繁荣截然不同，当时，过剩的现金被投入成本高昂的增长型项目。
雪佛龙公司在一份声明中表示，其第二季度经调整后的每股收益为1.71美元，高于彭博社调查的分析师平均预期的1.60美元。 与去年同期相比，今年上半年的资本支出下降了三分之一，而原油价格则上涨了50%以上，使得这家勘探企业拥有了足够的现金来重启股票回购。
今年早些时候，雪佛龙公司提高了派息，成为唯一一家派息高于疫情前水平的西方石油巨头。
尽管最近增加了股息，壳牌公司和英国石油公司的股息仍落后于Covid -19之前的水平。 埃克森美孚公司本周早些时候表示维持派息不变，预计将把多余的现金用于削减债务，而不是回购股票。
此次回购也预示着看涨前景。Breber表示，即使在油价较低的时期，回购也将持续下去。 他表示：“我在上个季度的业绩电话会议上明确表示，当我们有信心能够维持这一周期时，我们将开始回购。我们想股票回购要维持多年。”
雪佛龙公司关注的关键宏观经济指标——如全球经济复苏、原油库存以及:欧佩克及其盟友的协调——最近几周都有所改善。 不过，他说，鉴于布伦特原油期货价格高于每桶70美元，欧佩克拥有充足的备用产能，有理由对油价上涨持谨慎态度。
雪佛龙公司调整后的第二季度利润为33亿美元，去年同期亏损29亿美元。 主要利润驱动因素是石油和天然气价格的上涨，同时该公司也受益于化工行业的繁荣和美国炼油行业的反弹。 受疫情影响，国际炼油行业仍呈现疲软迹象。
李峻 编译自 彭博新闻社
原文如下：
Chevron Revives Buyback of Up to $3B
Chevron Corp. is reviving share buybacks that were suspended more than a year ago, signaling confidence that strong cash flows from high commodity prices will be sustained well into the future.
The repurchases will begin during the current quarter and range between $2 billion and $3 billion a year, around half the amount it devoted to the program before it was suspended in early 2020. Chevron’s move followed similar steps by Royal Dutch Shell Plc and TotalEnergies SE, which reinstated buybacks on Thursday.
“It says we’re confident in the future,” Chief Financial Officer Pierre Breber said in an interview. The level was chosen because “it really is a range that allows us to also continue to pay down debt.”
Stock repurchases are being revived or raised across the board as sectors as diverse as steelmakers, retailers and manufacturers ride the crest of economic expansion. In particular, Big Oil executives are seeking to reward shareholders as commodity prices rise, a turnabout from previous booms when excess cash was poured into costly growth projects.
Chevron earned $1.71 a share, on an adjusted basis, during the second quarter, the company said in a statement, trouncing the $1.60 average estimate among analysts in Bloomberg survey. Capital spending in the first half dropped by a third compared with a year earlier while crude prices rallied more than 50%, flooding the explorer with more than enough cash to resurrect buybacks.
The repurchasing program comes on top of Chevron raising its dividend earlier this year, becoming the only Western oil supermajor to lift the payout above pre-pandemic levels.
Even with recent increases, Shell’s and BP Plc’s dividends still lag pre-Covid-19 payouts. Exxon Mobil Corp. held its dividend steady earlier this week and is expected to devote excess cash to debt reduction rather than buying back shares.
The buyback also signals a bullish outlook. CFO Breber said the repurchases will be sustained even during periods of lower oil prices. “I was clear on last quarter’s earnings call that we would start a buyback when we were confident we could sustain it over the cycle,” he said. “We’d want to sustain it for multiple years.”
Key macroeconomic indicators watched by Chevron -- such as the global economic recovery, crude stockpiles, and co-ordination by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies -- all have improved in recent weeks. Still, with Brent crude futures above $70 a barrel and OPEC sitting on ample spare-production caapcity, there’s reason to be cautious about higher oil prices, he said.
Chevron’s adjusted second-quarter profit was $3.3 billion, compared with a $2.9 billion loss a year earlier. The main profit drivers were higher oil and natural gas prices, while the company also benefited from a chemical boom and a rebound in U.S. refining. International refining still showed signs of weakness due to the pandemic.
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