Chevron's Exploration Spending Set to Rise Amid Venezuela Growth Plans

Chevron is planning to raise its exploration spending by roughly 50% in 2027, from $1.5 billion this year, to drill about 20 exploration wells against 10 in 2024. This increase is due to the company's reserve base, which closed 2025 with about 10.6 billion barrels of oil equivalent of proved reserves while producing above 4 million barrels a day.

The company also has joint ventures with Venezuela, planning $7 billion of gross investment to take production from 280,000 barrels per day to 600,000 by 2031 at total costs management puts under $20 a barrel. This is part of Chevron's growth plan, and its $18.10 billion quarter was the down payment on this strategy.

Chevron's CFO Eimear Bonner stated that they generally don't like to move the buyback rate during times of volatility, but the surplus returns eventually. The company retired more than $8 billion of debt in the quarter and left the repurchase rate where it was. What was left went to lenders six weeks before the Venezuela terms landed.