High Energy Prices Boost ChevronTexaco's Second Quarter

SAN RAMON, Calif. -- ChevronTexaco Corp.'s second-quarter profit more than doubled as high energy prices extended a recent roll that is shaping into the most prosperous stretch in the oil giant's 125-year history, reported the Associated Press.

The San Ramon-based company earned $4.13 billion, or $3.88 per share, for the three months ended in June, compared with $1.6 billion, or $1.50 per share, a year earlier. It represented the largest three-month profit that the company has recorded since its formation in 1879.

The results included a $585 million gain from the company's sale of some Canadian assets and a $255 million benefit from changes in income tax laws governing some of ChevronTexaco's international operations.

Even after subtracting those special items, ChevronTexaco would have earned $3.09 per share -- beating the consensus estimate of $2.72 among analysts polled by Thomson First Call.

Revenue for the period totaled $38.3 billion, a 31 percent increase from $29.3 billion last year. "I am very pleased with our performance,'' ChevronTexaco chairman Dave O'Reilly said.

The second quarter continued the momentum ChevronTexaco enjoyed during the first three months of the year, when oil prices began an ascent that has required motorists across the country to pay more than $2 per gallon for gasoline. Gas prices have been highest in California, where ChevronTexaco is a market leader.

ChevronTexaco plans to play an even bigger role in the U.S. gas market. The company resumed selling gas under the Texaco brand in the South and East earlier this month. The company had relinquished the rights to the brand in 2001 to win regulators' approval of the merger between Chevron and Texaco, but that agreement left open the possibility that ChevronTexaco could later reclaim the name.

By the end of the year, the company hopes to be supplying more than 1,000 Texaco-branded stations. ChevronTexaco and its affiliates already sell gas through about 24,000 stations worldwide.
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