Chevron said on Wednesday that capital expenditure for 2026 will be between $18 billion and $19 billion as the oil major focuses on production in the US and investments connected to a recently-acquired oil stake in Guyana.
The range is at the low-end of previous guidance that put annual investment between $18 billion and $21 billion through 2030. The second-largest US oil producer outlined a plan last month to cut costs, operate more efficiently and increase returns to investors through the end of the decade.
"Our 2026 capital program focuses on the highest-return opportunities while maintaining discipline and improving efficiency, enabling us to grow cash flow and earnings," Chevron CEO Mike Wirth said in a statement.
About $17 billion will be spent on upstream, roughly $9 billion of which is allocated to the United States. Chevron said it expects to spend $6 billion on American shale and plans to produce more than two million barrels of oil equivalent per day from the country next year.
Spending on offshore production will total about $7 billion to support Guyana, projects in the Eastern Mediterranean and production from the US Gulf of Mexico.
Downstream spending will be about $1 billion, slightly lower compared with this year.
Chevron closed its $55 billion acquisition of Hess in July, with the main asset being a 30 per cent stake in the prolific Stabroek Block in Guyana. The deal also came with new assets in the Bakken shale formation in the US.
(Reporting by Sheila Dang in Houston; Editing by Nathan Crooks and Diane Craft)
