Nov 2 (Reuters) - U.S. oil and natural gas producer ChevronCorp said on Friday its quarterly profit doubled asrecord oil and gas production helped overcome a series ofone-time items.
With the price of crude in the third quarter up 44 percentfrom the same period a year ago, major oil companies' earningshave returned to levels not seen in as much as four years.
Chevron topped analysts' estimates with third-quarter netincome of $4.05 billion, or $2.11 a share, compared with $1.95billion, or $1.03 per share, in the same quarter a year earlier.
"Our strong financial results reflect higher production andcrude oil prices coupled with a continued focus on efficiencyand productivity," said Chief Executive Michael Wirth in astatement.
Analysts were looking for the company to report $2.06 pershare profit, according to I/B/E/S data on Refinitiv.
Shares rose 2 percent in premarket trading to $113.53. Thestock declined 9 percent in October and was off 11 percent yearto date through Thursday's close.
Chevron's production rose to 2.96 million barrels of oilequivalent per day (boed) from 2.72 million boed a year ago.
Quarterly results included $930 million in one-time expensesfor an asset impairment, a write-off and contract settlementoffset by a $350 million gain from the sale of its South Africanrefining and marketing operations, the company said.
Profit in the company's downstream business, which refinescrude oil into gasoline and other products, fell 24 percentreflecting lower margins and year-earlier gains on asset sales.
Exxon Mobil Corp and Royal Dutch Shellposted strong third-quarter profits on Friday, citing strongprices for oil and natural gas.(Reporting by Gary McWilliams in Houston; Editing by JeffreyBenkoe)
