What's going on?

Oil giant Chevron reported some lackluster quarterly results on Friday.

What does this mean?

For an energy source that�s apparently past its best, there sure is a lot of money left in fossil fuels, especially since the war in Europe drove prices near all-time highs last year. And that climate�s got analysts all excited: they�ve been betting that Western oil giants � including ExxonMobil, Shell, and BP � will report a record-breaking combined profit of around $200 billion for 2022. Chevron was first up, announcing a nearly $37 billion annual profit � double 2021�s figure and a stone-cold $10 billion higher than its previous record. But that didn�t wow hard-hearted investors, who were more interested in last quarter�s slowdown: after all, Chevron made a paltry $6.4 billion profit, a far cry from the $8.2 billion that wide-eyed analysts had dreamed of.

Why should I care?

Zooming in: Making it pour.
Chevron�s shareholders shouldn�t get too stroppy: late last week the firm announced its biggest ever share buyback scheme, to the tune of $75 billion � enough money for Chevron to buy almost any of its US-based competitors (tweet this). But while flexing that hard is cool and all, there was one person who wasn�t impressed: Uncle Sam. See, the US government thinks Chevron�s cash would be better spent topping up oil supplies to bring prices down for consumers. And although Chevron said it can do that and reward shareholders, it�s barely expecting to up production this year � so, not entirely convincing�

The bigger picture: Counting on China.
The price of Brent crude � a key oil benchmark � has fallen about a third since June, as folk fret that the global slowdown�s poised to hit demand. But Chevron�s betting that the reopening of China, the world�s biggest oil importer, will ramp up demand while supply remains tight. Some analysts agree, predicting that prices could surge past $100 a barrel again this year.