Chevron (CVX) has announced plans to boost oil (BZ=F, CL=F) and natural gas recovery at two of the energy giant's US Gulf of Mexico facilities. Chevron Vice Chairman Mark Nelson sits down with Brad Smith on Catalysts to discuss the state of the oil market and the company's outlook.

Nelson notes that oil demand continues to be strong "across the globe," identifying two key macro factors driving the oil market at this time.

"I think you see demand coming back to traditional growth levels. So coming out of the pandemic, there was a bit of an extra boost. Everybody kind of catching up on their travel and markets coming back to normal," Nelson states. "And then you see uncertainty in the market. You see... OPEC+ to some degree controlling supply. And questions about geopolitics. That's kind of keeping us in a range, but keep us bouncing around."

Addressing Chevron's M&A activity and the arbitration delays in its closing its deals with Hess (HES), Nelson highlights Chevron's growth profile, calling it "really exciting" and emphasizing that the Hess deal was not a necessity to maintain that growth. He notes the company has "growth built in" for both the short-term and long-term: "There's a growth trajectory with or without the Hess transaction, but we believe the Hess transaction is good for both shareholders."

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This post was written by Angel Smith