Chevron Corp. is changing its 1986 profit...

Chevron Corp. is changing its 1986 profit of $715 million to a $1.4-billion loss and is raising its 1987 profit to $1.25 billion from $1 billion because of a routine bookkeeping requirement. The San Francisco-based oil company said the change was needed to meet the provisions of the Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 96, which was approved by the Accounting Standards Board last December. Because of the change, the company had to restate its 1986 and 1987 earnings, resulting in the 1986 net loss and an increase in 1987 profit. The accounting change resulted from Chevron’s 1984 acquisition of Gulf Oil.