Chevron Corp

Chevron Corp. said Friday that its second-quarter profit rose 11% to a record $6 billion, even though production slipped and the San Ramon, Calif., company lost money refining and selling fuel. In the April-June quarter, Chevron, the country's second-largest oil company, posted net income of $6 billion, or $2.90 a share, up from $5.4 billion, or $2.52, in the year-ago quarter. Operating revenue rose 49% to $81 billion. Analysts expected earnings of $3.

Chevron Corp. agreed to pay $48 million to settle class-action lawsuits by California consumers over claims that Unocal Corp., which Chevron acquired in 2005, misled regulators about pending patents it held on technology for making cleaner-burning gasoline. The Federal Trade Commission sued Unocal in 2003, alleging that it misled California regulators after the state adopted clean-air standards.

In a glimpse of the energy industry's upcoming profit parade, oil giant Chevron Corp. said Thursday that it expected third-quarter earnings to top income from the previous period, as July's record-high crude prices and a rebound in refining more than offset lower production rates and the oil market's recent slide. The nation's second-largest oil company, which earned $5.98 billion for the second quarter, will announce its third-quarter results Oct. 31.

Chevron Corp. plans to sell its 12% stake in independent power producer Dynegy Inc., the companies said, as Chevron moves to pare its non-core operations. At Monday's closing price of $10.17 a share, Chevron's stake would be worth about $985 million. After Dynegy announced the sale, its shares fell 2.7% to $9.90 in after-the-bell trading. Chevron said its Chevron USA subsidiary intended to sell all of its approximately 96.

Chevron Corp. said Friday that it rang up a record quarterly profit of $5.4 billion, primarily thanks to soaring gasoline prices and gains from an investment sale. The oil giant's net income for the second quarter that ended June 30, equal to $2.52 a share, was up 24% from the $4.4 billion, or $1.97 a share, it earned in the year-earlier period. With those results, Chevron set a new high for quarterly earnings, surpassing the $5 billion it earned in the third quarter of 2006.

A U.S. court dismissed three lawsuits by Ecuadoreans who admitted allegations that pollution by Chevron Corp. had caused them or their relatives' cancer were false. The suits were part of a group of claims alleging that the company's dumping in the Ecuadorean rain forest caused cancer in the communities. Several lawsuits remain under those claims. They are unrelated to a larger litigation going on in Ecuador, which seeks $6 billion in damages from the U.S.

A lawyer must pay Chevron Corp. $45,000 for filing "manufactured" claims that three Ecuadoreans or their family members became ill with cancer from the company's chemical dumping in that country. Judge William Alsup in San Francisco wrote an order fining the lawyer, Cristobal Bonifaz, who represented residents of Ecuador's Oriente region in the suit. Alsup threw out the claims against Chevron in August, blaming Bonifaz for fabricating the illnesses.

Chevron Corp. must pay $5.6 million to a former employee who sued over claims that she was retaliated against after complaining of harassment based on her gender and ethnicity. A federal jury in San Francisco decided Chevron must compensate Kiran Pande, a petroleum engineer who worked at the company for 15 years. She claimed to have reported her former supervisor for "sexist conduct." San Ramon, Calif.

Chevron Corp. said it would raise capital spending 15% next year to $22.9 billion, making its most costly push ever to lift output after crude prices climbed near $100 a barrel. The spending plan includes an estimated $17.5 billion for oil and natural gas production and $4.1 billion for refining, San Ramon, Calif.-based Chevron said.

Chevron Corp. plans to begin selling fuel made mostly from ethanol in California this summer to test demand among motorists who pay the highest gasoline prices in the continental U.S. Chevron, which produces almost a fifth of California's gasoline, will build three filling stations to pump E85, a motor fuel made from 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline, Gregory Vesey, president of the company's alternative fuels business, said Thursday.