A boost to the oil price saw US majors Chevron and ExxonMobil post positive results for the first half of the year.
Chevron, which this month announced plans to sell off its central North Sea assets, doubled its pre-tax earnings on the first half of 2017 to £7.5billion.
Meanwhile total revenues jumped 18% to £61billion, as daily production increased thanks to various project start-ups.
Chevron’s central North Sea portfolio includes operated interests in the Alba, Alder, Captain and Erskine fields, and non-operated stakes in Britannia and its satellites, Elgin-Franklin and Jade.
The firm has said it only intends to market the assets, with the sale not being guaranteed.
Meanwhile ExxonMobil also enjoyed success for the first half of the year, despite a slight drop in global production due to maintenance issues as well as an earthquake in Papua New Guinea.
Pre-tax profits jumped 36% on the same period last year to £10.4billion.
Total revenues increased to £108.1bn, up 21%.
Despite this, the profits were below projections meaning the firm failed to fully capitalise on the higher oil price.
Chief executive Darren Woods said: ““Second quarter results were primarily impacted by significant scheduled maintenance undertaken to support operational integrity.
“In addition, while we were pleased with the return of full production following the PNG earthquake, extended recoveries from first quarter operational incidents in the Downstream were disappointing.
“However, good progress was made during the second quarter in fully recovering from these incidents.”
Recommended for you
