An oil drilling rig in the Permian Basin on March 13, 2022, in Midland, Texas. Joe Raedle/Getty Images hide caption

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Joe Raedle/Getty Images

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On a call with investors last week, Chevron CEO Mike Wirth summed up his plans for oil production in four words: "Steady as she goes."

Not much about oil markets have been "steady" for the past few months . The war in Iran caused an unprecedented disruption to global oil flows, as traffic through the Strait of Hormuz dropped to a near standstill and some production in the Persian Gulf had to shut down. Markets in Asia are facing increasingly dire shortages of fuel . Worldwide, crude oil prices have been on a roller coaster .

But some of the world's biggest oil companies, in their quarterly reports to investors, are signaling that their planned response to this upheaval is to stay the course.…