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Profits surge to new record at Chevron
SAN RAMON February 2, 2007 9:54am 
• But Q4 net is down • ‘Sharp decline’ in natural gas prices cited Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) of San Ramon says it saw a 22 percent jump in its profits in 2006 compared to the year before.
The oil company says 2006 net income was $17.14 billion, or $7.80 per diluted share, a record for the company, compared to a profit of $14.1 billion or $6.54 per diluted share in 2005.
The fatter bottom line came despite a drop in the fourth quarter net compared to 2005.
Preliminary net income for the quarter was $3.77 billion or $1.74 per diluted share compared with $4.14 billion or $1.86 per diluted share in Q4 of 2005.
"Fourth quarter earnings benefited from an improvement in the operating performance of our oil and gas fields and refineries, especially in the United States," says Chairman and CEO Dave O'Reilly. "However, this benefit to earnings was more than offset by the effect of a sharp decline in U.S. natural gas prices from a year earlier."
Mr. O’Reilly says Chevron refineries achieved their highest utilization rate in several years. “We also completed the integration of the former Unocal operations and reached a number of milestones during the year on our major capital projects,” he says.
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