New York, March 3, 2026, 17:29 EST — After-hours
- Chevron shares fell 0.4% after hours as crude settled at its highest since January 2025
- Israel ordered Chevron to temporarily shut the Leviathan gas field offshore, adding an operational wrinkle
- Citi lifted its Chevron price target to $210, citing valuation support for global energy names
Chevron shares slipped 0.4% to $188.77 in after-hours trading on Tuesday, after swinging between $187.46 and $194.68 during the session, as investors weighed an oil-price surge against fresh geopolitics around the company’s gas footprint in the Eastern Mediterranean.
The Middle East conflict has turned big oil stocks into fast-moving hedges. Chevron’s cash flow tends to rise with crude, but the same headlines pushing oil up can also disrupt supply chains, shipping and field operations.
That mix matters now because markets are trying to price two things at once: tighter supply risk that lifts oil and refined fuels, and the chance that energy infrastructure and regional gas flows stay in the crosshairs longer than traders expect.
Oil prices settled up 4.7% on Tuesday, with Brent ending at $81.40 a barrel and U.S. West Texas Intermediate at $74.56 — both the highest settlements in months — as the conflict disrupted shipments and raised fears of a drawn-out supply shock. Price Futures Group’s Phil Flynn said traders began to lean toward a quicker resolution after comments from U.S. President Donald Trump, and investors were also looking ahead to Wednesday’s official U.S. oil inventory report from the Energy Information Administration. 1
Offshore Israel, the Israeli government instructed Chevron to temporarily shut the giant Leviathan gas field, where it has been working to expand capacity to about 21 billion cubic metres a year as part of a $35 billion export deal to Egypt. A Chevron spokesperson said the company’s facilities were safe, while risk intelligence analyst Torbjorn Soltvedt at Verisk Maplecroft called the attack on Saudi Arabia’s Ras Tanura refinery “a significant escalation” that puts Gulf energy infrastructure in Iran’s sights. 2
Chevron’s move came against a weaker tape in U.S. equities, with the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust down about 0.9%. Peer Exxon Mobil fell about 1.6% to $151.83, while ConocoPhillips edged up 0.3% and Occidental Petroleum slipped about 1.0%.
On the Street, Citi raised its price target on Chevron to $210 from $179 and kept a Buy rating, saying it sees “strong valuation support” for global energy names as the Middle East war reshapes near-term pricing. 3
Options markets also showed traders leaning into upside bets. Chevron options volume hit 72,578 contracts on Monday, Nasdaq data showed, with notable activity in the $197.50 strike call expiring March 20. 4
But the trade is not one-way. A sharp de-escalation — or any sign that shipping flows through key routes are normalising — could knock crude back down quickly and take some air out of energy shares, even as prolonged outages or security limits could curb volumes in parts of Chevron’s gas portfolio.
Next up, investors will track Wednesday’s U.S. EIA inventory report and any updates on tanker insurance, shipping disruptions and whether Israel allows Leviathan to restart — the kind of operational detail that can matter as much as the next move in crude.
