Chevron Australia reports $8bn dividend as profit dips

Chevron Australia paid close to $8 billion worth of dividends to its parent company in 2023, despite a hike in the amount of tax it paid in Australia.

The local arm of the LNG giant, which operates the Gorgon and Wheatstone projects off the coast of Western Australia, and has a non-operating interest in the North West Shelf joint venture, made an after-tax profit of $US4.5 billion ($A6.8 billion) last year, down from $US8.1 billion in 2022.

The after-tax profit was impacted by a significant uptick in income tax paid last year, up from $US497.8 million in 2022 to close to $US3.6 billion.

The figure accounted for balancing payments from 2022, as well as 2023 instalments.

Chevron has been vocal on its increased Australian tax obligations in recent times, releasing a report in October that highlighted a 2022 income tax liability of $4.2 billion.

Despite it Chevron returned a massive dividend to its US parent of almost $US5.2 billion last year, down from $US7.3 billion a year earlier.

The company has already paid a further $US758 million to its parent company in the first months of 2024.

Chevron reported revenue from its customer contracts at $US12.7 billion, down from around $16 billion in 2022 as the market cooled from its intense highs driven by geopolitical instability in Eastern Europe.

The company averaged production of 42,000 barrels of liquid and 2.7 billion cubic feet of natural gas each day in 2023 from its Australian operations.

The Gorgon stage two project reached first gas in May 2023, and the company’s financials said progress on the Jansz-Io compression project, which will maintain Gorgon’s supply long term, was on track for first gas in 2027.

Chevron said Gorgon had an estimated remaining economic life of 40 years, with a further 17 years mapped out for the Wheatstone project.

Chevron also touched on carbon storage, highlighting its ownership in three greenhouse gas assessment permits – two off the Carnarvon basin and one off the Northern Territory’s Bonaparte Basin – as having potential to create a carbon capture portfolio.

“The group anticipates that growing its carbon capture storage portfolio will enable Chevron to further reduce emissions from existing Australian LNG assets and provide the opportunity to assist customers reduce or offset emissions from their own activities,” the company said.

Chevron said it was also exploring the opportunity to collaborate with other Carnarvon basin participants to develop its Clio and Acme West fields using shared infrastructure (a plan first mooted in 2018).