After months and months of spectacular earnings and record profits, Chevron expects to see a significant drop in earnings for the fourth quarter.
From Reuters:
Because market conditions had changed significantly, Chevron delayed the unveiling of 2009 capital spending plans until later this month from December. It made $15.8 billion in capital and exploratory expenditures in the first nine months of 2008, out of $22.9 billion budgeted in December 2007. -Reuters
I am not surprised to see the decline in earnings…after all, oil has tanked in the last few months. Even with its increase in the last couple of weeks, oil still won’t see the highs it saw last summer for at least a year, or until the recession starts to loosen its grip on the country.