Chevron Corporation has said it returned $26bn to investors for the year 2023. This is despite the company’s declaration that its reported earnings declined compared to last year.

“In 2023, we returned more cash to shareholders and produced more oil and natural gas than any year in the company’s history,” Chevron’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mike Wirth, was quoted as saying.

According to Wirth, “cash returned to shareholders totaled over $26bn for the year, 18 per cent higher than last year’s record total”.

According to Chevron fourth quarter 2023 results released on Friday, it was said that the firm’s annual worldwide net oil-equivalent production increased to over 3.1m barrels of oil-equivalent per day, led by 14 per cent growth in the United States

In the report, the company disclosed that its “reported earnings declined compared to last year primarily due to lower upstream realisations, losses from decommissioning obligations for previously sold assets in the U.S, Gulf of Mexico, higher U.S. upstream impairment charges mainly in California and lower margins on refined product sales”.

The reported earnings for year 2023 was $21.4bn, which is $14bn lower than the $35.5bn realised in 2022.

In its financial review, Chevron’s total revenues and other income for the year ended 2023 stood at $200bn. This is 18.4 per cent drop compared to $246bn made in the previous year 2022.

In the fourth quarter of 2023, Chevron Corporation declared reported earnings of $2.3bn, compared with $6.4bn in fourth quarter 2022.

The report added that foreign currency effects decreased earnings by $479m.

The corporation recorded adjusted earnings of $6.5bn in fourth quarter 2023 compared to adjusted earnings of $7.9bn in fourth quarter 2022.

However, the report announced, “The company returned a record $26.3bn of cash to shareholders during 2023, including dividends of $11.3bn (3 per cent higher than 2022) and share repurchases of $14.9bn (32 percent higher than last year).

“The company’s Board of Directors declared an 8 per cent increase in the quarterly dividend to one dollar $1.63 per share, payable March 11, 2024, to all holders of common stock.”