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Chevron, the second-largest U.S. oil company, reported a three-fold jump in quarterly profit, beating expectations as refinery margins fattened.
Energy giants such as Chevron and its peers Exxon Mobil [ XOM 60.55 
-0.77 (-1.26%) ] and Royal Dutch Shell [ RDSB-LN 1749.00 -12.00 (-0.68%) ], which reported earnings on Thursday, have benefited from renewed demand for oil and products such as gasoline and diesel fuel as the global economy crawls out of the deep recession.
"Refining and marketing essentially doubled the best expectation that we had," said Oppenheimer analyst Fadel Gheit. "When things go well, they go really well."
Chevron's second-quarter net income jumped to $5.4 billion, or $2.70 per share, from $1.75 billion, or 87 cents per share, a year before.
Analysts had been expecting a profit of $2.44 per share, according to the average on Thomson Reuters.
Revenue rose 32 percent to $53 billion.
Chevron has so far felt only a a modest impact from the drilling moratorium put in place after the BP [ BP 37.19 -0.24 (-0.64%) ] spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
But analysts have said the drilling halt could begin to threaten new prospects in the Gulf of Mexico, where Chevron is working on major projects such as Caesar/Tonga, due to start up in 2011.
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