About Michael Wirth
Chevron chairman and CEO Mike Wirth has said that global oil markets are tightening and that the closure of the Strait of Hormuz has placed the global energy system under "extreme stress." In multiple interviews in April, May, and June 2026, Wirth stated that about 20% of the world's oil and LNG supply typically transits the strait and that its disruption has drawn down inventories and reduced the system's "shock absorbers." He warned that physical shortages, which he said had already appeared in Asia, could spread to other regions, and that US refineries were running at near-maximum utilization. Wirth also said that the US was exporting crude and refined products at record levels, which he described as helping allies but also diverting supply that might otherwise be used domestically.
Wirth has discussed Chevron's operational response, stating that the company planned to grow global production by 7 to 10% in 2026, a rate he said exceeded global demand growth of about 2%. He noted that Chevron's US production had exceeded 2 million barrels per day for three consecutive quarters. Regarding Venezuela, Wirth said Chevron had increased production there by over 200,000 barrels per day since 2022 under a debt-recovery mechanism, but that further investment required clarity on new fiscal terms from the Venezuelan government. On California, Wirth said that state policies had driven refinery closures and made the state more reliant on imports, which he described as creating vulnerabilities. He also said that the laws of physics, thermodynamics, and economics are "stubborn" and that markets are efficient at finding the best application for different energy technologies.
Source: AI-verified profile updated from Michael Wirth's recent appearances.
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Transcript (19 segments)
C
Carl0:01
Was his post this morning. We'll see what we get.
S
Sarah0:04
He's consistent on that. Let's get to the big deal. News of the day. Chevron completing its acquisition of Hess after an arbitration panel cleared the way for their merger. $55 billion total enterprise value for the deal, including debt. Chevron CEO Mike Wirth joins us here at post nine, first on CNBC to discuss the deal. Welcome.
M
Michael Wirth0:23
Good morning Sarah. Hey Carl.
S
Sarah0:23
It's a big day for you. You have been confident all along that you would prevail. And now you got the word. How's it feel?
M
Michael Wirth0:31
It feels good. We have maintained from the beginning that this is the outcome that we expected. It's a straightforward interpretation of contract language, and we're very pleased that the transaction has now closed. Creates a premier international oil and gas company with the strongest upstream portfolio in the industry, highest cash margins on our upstream production, one of the largest producers of both oil and gas in the United States, the largest leaseholder in the Gulf of America, and industry-leading free cash flow per share growth not just for the next couple of years, but into the next decade. So good for Chevron and also good for the industry, because it affirms a long-standing practice that asset-level rights of refusal don't apply in corporate-level M&A transactions.
C
Carl1:19
Not sure that Exxon would agree with that. I mean, it's been a dramatic 20 or so months since you first announced this deal. It was unusual for Exxon to come at you like this with a fight and insist that they have the right of first refusal. What do you think was really going on here? Why do you think that Darren Woods took on this fight with you?
M
Michael Wirth1:39
I think they'd have to speak to that. I could just tell you, it didn't have to be this way. This took a long time. It's unfortunate that Hess shareholders and employees have been put through this for nearly two years on something where, in our view, the outcome was never in doubt. This was a plain reading of a contract and the arbitration panel saw it that way. This could have been resolved much more quickly.
C
Carl2:02
Why didn't you? Could have resolved it sooner if maybe you settled. Why didn't you ever look at doing that?
M
Michael Wirth2:07
Well, the facts were on Hess's side in this case. And I think the incentive to settle and to give something when you're right, I think the decision was made to stand and defend what Hess believed, and we also believed was the right interpretation of that contract.
S
Sarah2:27
So does this now change the balance of CapEx versus capital returns long term?
M
Michael Wirth2:33
No, it doesn't. It strengthens long-term cash flows for our company. It deepens our already deep resource position. We've had a very consistent track record of dividend increases, 38 consecutive years where we increased our dividend payout, share repurchases 18 of the last 22 years, record share repurchases the last two years. This provides the cash flow that will continue to support that. And we've got a very strong balance sheet. We've got AA credit rating, low net debt. And this just creates an even stronger foundation upon which to continue that track record.
C
Carl3:07
The Times today characterizes the production backdrop as tricky for producers because on the one hand, you do have a lot of deregulation and easing and permitting, and the administration clearly wants that. But they also want a low raw material cost. And how does that affect producers' psychology at the moment?
M
Michael Wirth3:25
Well, it's a long-term business. And we lay out our plans and look to develop in a capital-efficient manner. We've been growing our production with record production in the US last year. I expect to have record production in the US again.
C
Carl3:37
For yourselves and the industry?
M
Michael Wirth3:38
For ourselves and the industry. Yes. And we're closing in on a million barrels a day in the Permian Basin. And so we've been steadily growing our business here in the US and investing in it, but doing it in a capital-efficient way that can generate strong returns on investment so we can return cash to shareholders.
S
Sarah3:56
You have said that this deal has been an overhang on your stock. Would you believe so now that you're past it? First of all, I'm curious how you look at Hess differently, if at all, because it's been almost two years from when you originally said you wanted to do this.
M
Michael Wirth4:10
The deal looks better today at any price assumption than it did when we went into the deal two years ago. Hess's business has performed better than we assumed at that time. We've got a very strong view now on synergies. We've been prepared to integrate this. We'll be cash flow per share accretive by the end of this year. We'll deliver $1 billion in run-rate synergies by the end of this year. And so the deal looks better to us today than it did at the time.
C
Carl4:38
So what about the relationship with Exxon? Where do you go from here? Because you partner on this project and other projects. But it got messy.
M
Michael Wirth4:45
We partner with companies across the industry, around the world. It's the nature of our industry. We share risk. We pool talent to develop resources. And so we'll continue to do that. Partnership is one of our core values. We pride ourselves on working hard to be a good partner with all the people that we partner with around the world. And we're partners with Exxon in a number of places around the world, and I expect that our people will work well with them. In Guyana, many of those people will be former Hess employees who have been working on this asset for many years already, and who have been part of the team that has created the discoveries.
