Chevron Corp. reports its quarterly results today.
The jump in profits comes as oil companies wait out a ban on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico that is scheduled to last until Nov. 30. Shell took a $56 million charge for idling its rigs while Exxon halted work on an appraisal well and suspended operations at one of its Gulf platforms.
But their operations are so vast that the impact is likely to be minimal. And both remain committed to drilling in deep water around the globe, including the Gulf. Exxon continues to explore the deep waters off countries like Indonesia and the Philippines.
For BP, of course, the Gulf is paramount at the moment. It will be paying for years for the oil spill set off in April when the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded and sank. The British oil company took a charge of $32.2 billion to cover the costs that it can reliably estimate at this time. On Tuesday, it reported a record quarterly loss of $17 billion.
For its second quarter, Exxon said revenue increased 24 percent to $92.5 billion.
The company boosted oil and natural gas production by 8 percent. Refining margins also improved as gasoline demand increased.
