@1srt, you are correct. Right now, the dividend is the number 1 priority just as John Watson has reiterated time and time again. But everyone with a business common sense knows that there comes a time when prolonged capital, expense and personnel reductions to prop up the dividend program becomes a diminishing benefit and increasing risk to the future of Chevron and its stockholders.
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JW stated last year that stock dividend payment is top priority. That is all you need to know to make your own conclusions about projects and personnel.
Etc considering 5, 10 and 30 scenarios
Number 1 priority for Chevron is to maintain and grow the dividend.
Employees are expendable. TPS management is considering 5%, 10%, and 20% scenarios. Final decision will be made after Q2 earnings call.
No we are still laying off. The price of the commodity in a commodity is super important but so is ROI, propensity to deliver on time and within budget. To have a solid buisness model to ensure growth. Growth not just in profit but market share. Chevron has no wiggle room. No cash and it's running out of time. We want to and are going to change the buisness model. Shale and deep water are the primo choices. The rest will be pet exploration projects. We were and still on the precipitous. Wells are opening at $50 and this will guarantee $40 pills for longer than most anticipate. If I would be offered a sweetener for early retirement I would jump on it with both feet.
Chevron will not make any changes to the scheduled layoffs this year. The headcount and cost reductions are all factored in for 2017 budget. The only tweaking will be for certain favorite employees to get internal, nonposted positions. You all need to stay with the worst case scenario. Any hopeful thinking is just that - hopeful thinking. It would be great if all of this industry purging would stop, but probably not this year.
I think it's possible Chevron may somewhat put the brakes on any imminent layoffs it has planned. Because of oil prices now testing $50 and seemingly holding, it's possible Chevron BU's may nudge back a bit in full layoff numbers. They may tweak their plans to only cut 80% of the approved numbers for upcoming cuts.
I do not work for Chevron. An increase from $26 to $50 is called a 92% increase, in the market and mathematically. A "slight upticking" it is not. And that is NOT my choice of words. It's just the ones investors use.
"Chevron might postpone their layoff plans due to the oil price surge."
"Surge" from $26 a barrel to $50 in 5 months? That's your choice of words. I would call it: "slight up ticking".
More people will be let go, even if you refuse to believe it.
Chevron will postpone any layoff that has been planned and in place already. The oil price surge you are seeing will be short lived. Fires near oil sands in Canada, Nigerian attacks on oil wells, and other events are causing a short term demand spike. The US Dollar was also a little lower but now rising again. Chevron and all major O&G players look far beyond these spurts. Although Chevron will not want to over do the numbers of employees cut in layoffs, what has been planned already, will go through, even though some slight alterations are possible within weeks of pulling the trigger.