Chevron Profit Rises as Unrest Lifts Oil Prices

 

The Chevron Corporation said Friday that its first-quarter profit rose 36 percent as economic growth and supply disruptions drove crude prices above $100 a barrel.

Net income rose to $6.21 billion, or $3.09 a share, from $4.55 billion, or $2.27, a year earlier, Chevron said. Sales rose 25 percent, to $60.3 billion.

Global demand for petroleum-derived fuels rose 2.9 percent during the first quarter, led by growth in China, Brazil and India, according to the International Energy Agency. Oil futures traded in New York climbed 20 percent to average $94.60 a barrel, driven in part by the civil unrest in North Africa and the Middle East that has imperiled crude supplies.

Stock in Chevron, which is based in San Ramon, Calif., rose 63 cents, to $109.44 a share.

Profit from the company’s oil and natural gas business increased 27 percent to $5.98 billion as higher commodity prices offset an output decline of less than 1 percent. Chevron said it pumped the equivalent of 2.76 million barrels of crude during the period, down from 2.78 million a year earlier.

Chevron’s refineries earned $622 million, more than three times the profit of the first quarter of 2010.