ChevronTexaco Corp, the No 2 US oil company, reported a 62 per cent rise in quarterly profit from record oil prices and gains from asset sales, but the results fell short of Wall Street forecasts.

In particular, the company felt the pinch from lower margins for refined products in the United States and disruptions from hurricanes that swept through the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean.
But record oil prices - which have shot up 60 percent this year - fueled results at exploration and production operations and higher margins boosted results at the international refining and marketing businesses.
Net income in the third quarter jumped to $3.2 billion, or $1.51 per share, from $2 billion, or $1.01 per share, in the year-earlier quarter.
But excluding gains of $486 million, or 23 cents per share, related to the sale of assets, profit was below Wall Street expectations of $1.36 per share, according to Reuters Estimates.
“It obviously was not a quarter you write home about,” said Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Fadel Gheit, noting that the hurricane season hurt both production and refining operations.
Since the company’s production figures appeared to be in line with estimates, however, the shortfall was probably from higher-than-expected costs, said Gene Gillespie, analyst at Howard, Weil, Labouisse, Friedrichs Inc.
ChevronTexaco, the last major US integrated oil company to report results this quarter, said total revenues jumped to $40.72 billion from $30.84 billion a year earlier.
Earlier, ExxonMobil Corp and ConocoPhillips, the largest and third-largest US oil companies, both reported sharply higher profits riding the wave of higher oil prices, but also easily beat Wall Street forecasts.