Bangkok--27 Feb--Standard & Poor's
Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said today that it assigned its 'AA' rating to Chevron Corp.'s proposed benchmark unsecured notes offering. We expect Chevron to use proceeds primarily to pay down commercial paper outstanding. As of Dec. 31, 2008, San Ramon, Calif.-based Chevron had $9 billion in balance sheet debt. The corporate credit rating on the company is 'AA' and the outlook is stable.
"The ratings on Chevron reflect the company's standing as one of the world's five-largest privately held, vertically integrated oil and gas corporations," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst David Lundberg. Its massive and geographically diverse upstream operations, meaningful downstream and chemicals operations, and conservative financial policies underscore the ratings. The industry's high capital intensity and volatility, and the political risk associated with the company's large upstream projects, the majority of which are in countries outside the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, temper company strengths.
Chevron's upstream activities have accounted for 83% of consolidated net income over the past three years. As of Dec. 31, 2008, total proved reserves stood at 11.2 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe), roughly 65% of which was developed and two-thirds was crude oil and liquids. With 2.53 million boe of daily production, Chevron's reserve-to-production ratio is satisfactory at more than 12 years. In its refining and marketing business (about 18% of net income over the past three years), Chevron maintains a refining throughput capacity of 2.1 million boe per day, with a geographic focus in the U.S. and Asia-Pacific.
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Media Contact:
David Wargin, New York (1) 212-438-1579, [email protected]
Analyst Contact:
David Lundberg, CFA, New York (1) 212-438-7551
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