Mike Wirth: Yes. It’s a high priority. We took FID at the end of last year on a project to expand Tamar from — on a 100% basis, 1.1 to 1.6 Bcf per day. The first gas on that should come online in early 2025. We are working on development options to expand Leviathan. Those are still being worked and we should narrow the concepts on that later this year and reach some decisions in terms of how we intend to do that. The Nargis discovery, it’s just one well at this point, but it encountered a significant section of high-quality gas-bearing sandstone. So very attractive. We’re talking to our partner there about appraisal and development concepts that will follow. So that region — and of course, we’ve got a number of additional exploration blocks further to the west in the Mediterranean that we’ve not yet put any wells into but we’ve got seismic and we’re developing our exploration plans and you’ll hear more about that as we go forward.
So it’s a high priority. The region needs gas, both regionally in the Middle East, but also then obviously options to try to get that gas into Europe. And so the noble acquisition was really advantageous from that standpoint, and we’re optimistic about the prospectivity of some of these additional exploration blocks.
Neil Mehta: Very well. Stay tuned. Thanks, Mike.
Mike Wirth: Okay. Thank you, Neil.
Operator: We’ll take our next question from Doug Leggate with Bank of America.
Doug Leggate: Well, thanks, everyone. Roderick, I’d like to also pass on my thanks. You’ve transformed Chevron does Investor Relations. Thank you for all your help. Guys, I wonder if I could go back to the buyback. I just want to try and understand a little bit about the comment around really just how you think about the purpose of the buyback. Is this really about dividend management at this point? Because it seems to us that, if you take your Brent sensitivity into account, the run rate at the high end of the range puts you about a $90 breakeven on your oil price. And I’m just wondering if this is about value or about managing confidence in future dividend growth.
Mike Wirth: Well, let me try to be clear on this, Doug. We do not do buybacks to manage dividends. Dividend — absolute dividend load is an outcome. It’s not a reason that you would do buybacks. Our dividend growth expresses confidence in the ability to grow free cash flow at mid-cycle prices, and it is a long-term decision, a long, long, long-term decision. We haven’t cut the dividend since the great depression. Pierre mentioned, we’ve increased the payout 36 years in a row now. Buybacks are different. They signal confidence that we’re going to generate excess free cash flow, where we’ve got excess balance sheet capacity, which we have significant capacity in the current commodity cycle. And as we satisfy our commitments on the dividend, our reinvestment plans in a disciplined manner to grow free cash flows and maintain that strong balance sheet, we’ve got the capacity then to buy shares back through the cycle.
