I've enthusiastically bashed Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez on more than one occasion, but maybe I should be thanking him. As I was reminded in a Deutsche Bank analyst report, before he rose to power in '99, Venezuela was planning on upping its oil output pretty considerably, and The Economist was talking about single-digit per-barrel oil prices and the collapse of oil-fueled regimes around the globe.

I think we all know what's happened since then (though certainly it can't all be pinned on one person).

And so while I don't think Chevron (NYSE:CVX) is any great fan of his (and has a lot of money at risk in Venezuelan heavy oil projects), the industry as a whole is certainly enjoying today's high energy prices.

High prices are pretty much what's bringing home the bacon for Chevron these days. Revenue was up 32% in the first quarter (and earnings up 49%), and that was basically all due to the exploration and production business. Sure, income jumped 42% in the refining and marketing business on better margins, and the chemicals business did better, too, but those two together barely rate 20% of the total income base here.

Unfortunately, it's not all great news in exploration and production. Pricing is still strong (though natural gas has started sliding back), but production growth of 10% was pretty much all from Unocal. In fact, reading through management guidance on production volumes, it seems like a lot of the high-profile projects are slipping in terms of their scheduled production.

So we have an interesting conundrum here. Chevron is certainly cheap relative to the likes of ExxonMobil and BP (NYSE:BP) and Total (NYSE:TOT) in terms of enterprise value per barrel of reserves. But that production volume matter is an issue -- even though Chevron is good at the exploration, I'm not so sure about the production.

For now, I'd still rather be in Occidental (NYSE:OXY), Apache (NYSE:APA), or Canadian Natural (NYSE:CNQ) for growth or ExxonMobil, BP, or Total for a mix of value and income. Or heck, how about Eni (NYSE:E) -- that's worth a look, too. I don't hate Chevron, but I just don't see enough there to get really excited just yet.

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Fool contributor Stephen Simpson has no financial interest in any stocks mentioned (that means he's neither long nor short the shares).