No doubt a lot of angst and some well deserved ribbing of Chevron. BUT, the reality is that the main factors in Chevron's problems today are the price of oil (out of Chevron's control) and poor execution of MCPs (in Chevron's control). While this is a concern when it comes to stock price, dividends and potentially even funding pensions, consider that Chevron, like all Major Oil Companies, lives on a simple formula of cash out and cash in, and margin balance. What is happening is that Chevron as we speak, with more to come, is slashing cash out, which strengthens the balance sheet. I think that a lot of people will be surprised by the 3rd quarter earnings, which will be better than most will expect. Keep in mind that once you pretty much shut down MCP capitalization, and minimize the employees you need to sustain those minimal operations, the balance sheet gets much better, and very fast. I am still in Chevron, I am a Manager, and fully expect to be gone soon, almost certainly by the end of the year or not much after, in what is going to be a win/win situation. Now before you paint me as a cool aid drinker, let me say that these last few years in Chevron have been a disappointment. Poor execution and lack of focus pretty much across the board and pretty much blind ignorance of what was coming, though some have been pointing it our for at least 5 years, to deaf ears. I've also got some pretty deep disappointment in the executive management of my own BU, for what I consider to be pretty poor behavior and CSOC behavior in trying times. As for me, I think that Chevron is still a good long term bet, that oil in the pipeline is the name of the game, no matter what the price of oil is, and that one day we'll get back to realizing that and become again the Oil Company we once were, and should be today.
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Well said