Chevron profits hit by weaker oil

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Chevron, the second largest oil company in the US, has posted a sharp fall in quarterly profits, as the price of oil dropped from its peak.

Net profit for the first three months of the year fell 64% to $1.84bn (£1.23bn) from a year earlier.

The price of crude oil has averaged less than $50 a barrel this year, down from a record high of $147 last July.

Production during the quarter rose slightly to the equivalent of 4.2 million barrels of oil per day.

Chevron shares were little changed in early trading as the drop in profit was not as bad as analysts had feared.

Earlier this week Exxon reported that its profits had fallen 58% in the same period.

Those figures disappointed investors who had been getting used to energy companies reporting better-than-expected profits despite the collapse in crude oil prices.