Chevron Corporation, the second-largest US oil company, said it had already started nearly all the projects that would deliver 25 per cent growth in oil and gas output over the next half a decade.

At its annual meeting with analysts, Chevron said 98 per cent of its targeted production by 2017 was already in design, construction or production.

Chevron reaffirmed the target of 3.3 million barrels per day of oil equivalent, up from an estimated 2.65 million bpd this year.

Looking beyond that, the company highlighted expansion in Kazakhstan, steam-flooded oil production in the Middle East, and even more liquefied natural gas from Canada and Australia.

"We feel very good about our 2017 target, and we anticipate continuing to grow beyond 3.3 million barrels per day," said George Kirkland, Chevron's head of exploration and production.

Increasing production has been a challenge for the world's big oil companies, a trend underlined by last week's prediction of a one per cent decline this year by Exxon Mobil despite its budget of $41 billion.

In 2013, Chevron expects to drill about 440 wells in the Permian basin, located in the west part of Texas and New Mexico. The company bought assets in the area from Chesapeake Energy Corporation in September, and Kirkland said that acreage appeared more productive than the initial estimates.

Asked about potential asset sales of its own, chief executive John Watson noted the Permian represented an area where the company had a legacy position which became attractive again because of the improvements in shale drilling technology.-Reuters