July 30, 2010 –   * Q2 EPS $2.70 vs Wall St view of $2.44

* Refinery profits surge from depressed levels in 2009

* Q2 output 2.75 mln boepd, raises 2010 target to 2.78 mln

* Shares rise 0.25 pct, while sector is flat

(Adds latest on Ecuador case paragraph 11, share price close)

By Matt Daily and Braden Reddall

NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Chevron Corp posted a three-fold jump in profit that beat estimates as refinery margins improved, and the second-largest U.S. oil company raised its 2010 oil and gas production growth target to 3 percent.

Energy giants such as Chevron and its peers Exxon Mobil Corp and Royal Dutch Shell Plc, which reported Thursday, have benefited from renewed demand for fuel as the global economy crawls out of recession.

"Refining and marketing essentially doubled the best expectation that we had," Oppenheimer & Co analyst Fadel Gheit said. "When things go well, they go really well."

Chevron's second-quarter net income jumped to $5.41 billion, or $2.70 per share, from $1.75 billion, or 87 cents per share, a year before. Analysts had expected a profit of $2.44 per share, according to the average on Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue rose 32 percent to $53 billion.

Chevron has so far felt only a modest impact from the drilling moratorium put in place after the BP Plc spill in the Gulf of Mexico. George Kirkland, Chevron's vice chairman and head of upstream operations, told analysts on a call he sees the 2010 impact from the halt at less than 10,000 barrels per day.

Kirkland said Chevron was pushing ahead with its deepwater Gulf of Mexico plans, and final investment decisions on its Jack/St Malo and Big Foot projects would be made later this year "assuming the moratorium is lifted."

"If this keeps sliding out in the unknowns, it will impact the projects," he added.

Chevron owns half of Jack/St Malo, set to produce 120,000 to 150,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) at peak after starting in 2014, and 60 percent of Big Foot, which will peak at 63,000 boepd after starting up in the next five years.

Chevron shares closed up 19 cents, or 0.25 percent to $76.21, while the Chicago Board Options Exchange's oil company index fell 0.1 percent. Chevron shares are down about 1 percent in 2010, versus a 10 percent drop in the index, including BP's stock -- which has been battered over fears about its liability.

Chevron, which itself has spent the past decade battling a multibillion-dollar case in Ecuador over rain forest pollution, is unlikely to hear a verdict in that case until next year, according to the judge.

BUYBACK PLANS RETOOLED

Chevron said Friday it had terminated its three-year $15 billion share repurchase plan that started in September 2007 and put in place an ongoing buyback plan with no set limits.

Its oil and gas production business reported profit of $4.5 billion, up from $1.66 billion, on both higher prices and volumes. Output rose to 2.75 million boepd from 2.67 million.

The San Ramon, California-based company increased its 2010 production outlook to 2.78 million boepd from its previous guidance of 2.73 million, with its base business decline now expected at 4 percent to 5 percent, down from 6 percent.

Chevron's average sales price for oil and other liquids jumped 34 percent from a year ago to $71 per barrel, while its sales price for natural gas rose 18 percent to $4.40 per thousand cubic feet.

Like others in the industry, profit margins at Chevron refineries rose sharply as demand for products such as gasoline and diesel fuel recovered after a two-year slump. For that side of the business, which also now includes chemicals, the company earned $975 million, compared with $131 million a year ago. (Reporting by Matt Daily in New York and Braden Reddall in San Francisco; editing by Dave Zimmerman and Andre Grenon)