Chevron shares drop after falling well short on Q4 earnings

US oil giant Chevron traded 2% lower in pre-market action on Friday after posting a disappointing set of quarterly results.

Net income for Chevron's fourth quarter was $415m for 22 cents per share, despite analysts having forecast earnings of 64 cents per share. Total revenue also fell short, the company bringing in $31.5bn after estimates of $33.3bn.

Low oil prices were blamed for the company's poor performance during the quarter.

"Our 2016 earnings reflect the low oil and gas prices we saw during the year," Chairman and CEO John Watson said in a statement. "We responded aggressively to those conditions, cutting capital and operating expenses by $14 billion. We are well positioned to improve earnings and be cash flow balanced in 2017 through continued tight spending and cost control and additional revenue from expected production growth."

The results were an improvement in comparison with the corresponding quarter in 2015, when Chevron posted a loss of $588m, or 31 cents per share ahead of oil prices hitting a 12-year low the following January.

Chevron has said that it would cut as many as 8,000 jobs in an attempt to cut costs, which would represent around 12% of its total workforce.

The company's main competitor ExxonMobil Corp is expected to release its quarterly earnings report next week.