Chevron Case Study

Chevron (CVX) has pulled up impressively from its 52-week lows that it had hit in late August, appreciating almost 30% in less than three months. The pick-up in Chevron’s stock price of late can be attributed to marked improvement in oil prices in the past three months. However, of late, oil prices have started faltering on the back of different reasons ranging from an increase in stockpiles to a strong dollar.

In fact, looking ahead, it is likely that oil prices will remain under pressure in the short run, and this could weigh on Chevron’s stock price. Let’s see why.

Why oil prices will remain under pressure in the short run

Chevron’s earnings in foreign currency are expected to decrease in the near term as the Federal Reserve is anticipated to raise the interest rate, which will ultimately strengthening the U.S. dollar. According to The Financial Times, the Federal Reserve is expected to raise the interest rates on the back of an improving job scenario. In fact, the unemployment rate in the U.S. fell to just 5% in October, which is the lowest rate achieved in the past seven years since the crisis.

This unemployment number is what the Federal Reserve considers the full-employment rate, so the central

For instance, the company is tactically leveraging its enterprise spend for drill pipe across the company. It is seeing approximately 35% reduction in costs through this initiative. Also, the company is seeing efficiency improvements through the deployment of innovative drilling and completions technology such as the single-trip multizone frac pack. This technology has enabled the company to significantly reduce its drilling days by over 25% in the past couple of years in Gulf of Mexico. Also, CVX has reduced its drilling cycle time from spud to rig release by 55% within its Permian horizontal drilling program. These improved economies of scale better illustrate its growth in the current low price