Chevron Corporation is an American multinational

energy corporation The energy industry is the totality of all of the industries involved in the production and sale of energy, including fuel extraction, manufacturing, refining and distribution. Modern society consumes large amounts of fuel, and the energy industr ...

. The second-largest direct descendant of Standard Oil, and originally known as the Standard Oil Company of California (shortened to Socal or CalSo), it is headquartered in

San Ramon, California San Ramon (Spanish: ''San Ramón'', meaning "St. Raymond") is a city in Contra Costa County, California, United States, located within the San Ramon Valley, and east of San Francisco. San Ramon's population was 84,605 per the 2020 census, maki ...

, and active in more than 180 countries. Chevron is engaged in every aspect of the oil and natural gas industries, including hydrocarbon exploration and production;

refining {{Unreferenced, date=December 2009 Refining (also perhaps called by the mathematical term affining) is the process of purification of a (1) substance or a (2) form. The term is usually used of a natural resource that is almost in a usable form, b ...

, marketing and transport; chemicals manufacturing and sales; and

power generation Electricity generation is the process of generating electric power from sources of primary energy. For utilities in the electric power industry, it is the stage prior to its delivery ( transmission, distribution, etc.) to end users or its stor ...

. Chevron traces its history back to the 1870s. The company grew quickly after the breakup of Standard Oil by acquiring companies and partnering with others, especially Texaco. Socal was one of the Seven Sisters that dominated the global petroleum industry from the mid-1940s to the 1970s. In 1985, Socal merged with the Pittsburgh-based Gulf Oil and rebranded as Chevron; the newly-merged company later merged with Texaco in 2001. Today, Chevron manufactures and sells fuels, lubricants, additives, and petrochemicals, primarily in Western North America, the U.S. Gulf Coast, Southeast Asia, South Korea and Australia. In 2018, the company produced an average of 791,000 barrels of net oil-equivalent per day in United States. Chevron is one of the largest companies in the world and the second largest oil company based in the United States by revenue, only behind fellow Standard Oil descendant

ExxonMobil ExxonMobil Corporation (commonly shortened to Exxon) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is the largest direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, and was formed on November 30, ...

. Chevron ranked 16th on the Fortune 500 in 2022 with revenues of $162.5 billion USD, which also ranked it 37th on the Fortune Global 500. The company is also the last-remaining oil and gas component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average since ExxonMobil's exit from the index in 2020. Chevron has been subject to numerous controversies arising out of its activities, the most notable of which being related to its activities and inherited liabilities from its acquisition of Texaco in the

Lago Agrio oil field The Lago Agrio oil field is an oil-rich area near the city of Nueva Loja in the province of Sucumbíos, Ecuador. It is located in the Western Oriente Basin. The site's hydrocarbon-bearing formations are the Cretaceous Napo and Hollin formation ...

, which include allegations of both Chevron and Texaco collectively dumping 18 billion tons of toxic waste and spilling 17 million gallons of petroleum. Chevron and Texaco's activities were the subject of a lawsuit Chevron lost to Ecuadorian residents defended in Ecuadorian court by

Steven Donziger Steven R. Donziger (born September 14, 1961) is an American attorney known for his legal battles with Chevron, particularly '' Aguinda v. Texaco, Inc.'' and other cases in which he represented over 30,000 farmers and indigenous people who suffer ...

. Due to accusations of Donziger bribing the Ecuadorian court and the subsequent disbarment and criminal contempt charges against Donziger, Chevron was accused by environmentalists and human rights groups of jailing Donziger and compelling the US government to deny Donziger due process of law.

History

Predecessors

One of Chevron's early predecessors, "Star Oil", discovered oil at the Pico Canyon Oilfield in the Santa Susana Mountains north of Los Angeles in 1876. The 25 barrels of oil per day well marked the discovery of the Newhall Field, and is considered by geophysicist Marius Vassiliou as the beginning of the modern oil industry in California. Energy analyst

Antonia Juhasz Antonia Juhasz (born 1970) is an American oil and energy analyst, author, journalist and activist. She has authored three books: ''The Bush Agenda'' (2006), ''The Tyranny of Oil'' (2008), and ''Black Tide'' (2011). Education Juhasz earned her und ...

has said that while Star Oil's founders were influential in establishing an oil industry in California, Union Mattole Company discovered oil in the state eleven years prior. In September 1879,

Charles N. Felton Charles Norton Felton (January 1, 1832September 13, 1914) was an American banker and politician who served as a Congressman (1885 to 1889) and U.S. Senator (1891 to 1893) from California in the late 19th Century, in addition to co-founding th ...

, Lloyd Tevis, George Loomis and others created the "Pacific Coast Oil Company", which acquired the assets of Star Oil with $1 million in funding. Pacific Coast Oil became the largest oil interest in California by the time it was acquired by

Standard Oil Standard Oil Company, Inc., was an American oil production, transportation, refining, and marketing company that operated from 1870 to 1911. At its height, Standard Oil was the largest petroleum company in the world, and its success made its co-f ...

for $761,000 in 1900. Pacific Coast operated independently and retained its name until 1906, when it was merged with a Standard Oil subsidiary and it became "Standard Oil Company (California)" or "California Standard". Another predecessor,

Texas Fuel Company Texaco, Inc. ("The Texas Company") is an American oil brand owned and operated by Chevron Corporation. Its flagship product is its fuel "Texaco with Techron". It also owned the Havoline motor oil brand. Texaco was an independent company until i ...

, was founded in 1901, in

Beaumont, Texas Beaumont is a coastal city in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat, seat of government of Jefferson County, Texas, Jefferson County, within the Beaumont–Port Arthur, Texas, Port Arthur Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan area, metropo ...

as an oil equipment vendor by "Buckskin Joe". The founder's nickname came from being harsh and aggressive. Texas Fuel worked closely with Chevron. In 1936, it formed a joint venture with California Standard named

Caltex Caltex is a petroleum brand name of Chevron Corporation used in the Asia-Pacific region, the Middle East, and Southern Africa. It is also the brand name of non-Chevron petroleum companies in some countries (such as New Zealand, and previously ...

, to drill and produce oil in Saudi Arabia. According to energy analyst and activist shareholder

, the Texas Fuel Company and California Standard were often referred to as the "terrible twins" for their cutthroat business practices. The Texas Fuel Company was renamed the Texas Company, and later renamed Texaco.

Formation of the Chevron name

In 1911, the federal government broke Standard Oil into several pieces under the Sherman Antitrust Act. One of those pieces, Standard Oil Co. (California), went on to become Chevron. It became part of the " Seven Sisters", which dominated the world oil industry in the early 20th century. In 1926, the company changed its name to Standard Oil Co. of California (SOCAL). By the terms of the breakup of Standard Oil, at first Standard of California could use the Standard name only within its original geographic area of the Pacific coast states, plus Nevada and Arizona; outside that area, it had to use another name. Today, Chevron is the owner of the

trademark in 16 states in the western and southeastern United States. Since American trademark law operates under a use-it-or-lose-it rule, the company owns and operates one Standard-branded Chevron station in each state of the area. However, though Chevron (as CalSo) acquired Kyso in the 1960s, its status in Kentucky is unclear after Chevron withdrew its brand from retail sales from Kentucky in July 2010. The 'Chevron' name came into use for some of its retail products in the 1930s. The name "Calso" was also used from 1946 to 1955, in states outside its native West Coast territory. Standard Oil Company of California ranked 75th among United States corporations in the value of World War II military production contracts. In 1933, Saudi Arabia granted California Standard a concession to find oil, which led to the discovery of oil in 1938. In 1948, California Standard discovered the world's largest oil field in Saudi Arabia, Ghawar Field. California Standard's subsidiary, California-Arabian Standard Oil Company, grew over the years and became the Arabian American Oil Company (ARAMCO) in 1944. In 1973, the Saudi government began buying into ARAMCO. By 1980, the company was entirely owned by the Saudis, and in 1988, its name was changed to Saudi Arabian Oil Company—

Saudi Aramco Saudi Aramco ( ar, أرامكو السعودية '), officially the Saudi Arabian Oil Company (formerly Arabian-American Oil Company) or simply Aramco, is a Saudi Arabian public petroleum and natural gas company based in Dhahran. , it is one of ...

. Standard Oil of California and Gulf Oil merged in 1984,SOCAL agrees to buy Gulf in record deal price
by Robert Cole at ''The New York Times'', March 6, 1984 which was the largest merger in history at that time. To comply with

U.S. antitrust law In the United States, antitrust law is a collection of mostly federal laws that regulate the conduct and organization of businesses to promote competition and prevent unjustified monopolies. The three main U.S. antitrust statutes are the Sherman ...

, California Standard divested many of Gulf's operating subsidiaries, and sold some Gulf stations and a refinery in the eastern United States. (The refinery is currently owned by

Sunoco Sunoco LP is an American master limited partnership organized under Delaware state laws and headquartered in Dallas, Texas, that is a wholesale distributor of motor fuels. It distributes fuel to more than 5,500 Sunoco-branded gas stations, ...

.) Among the assets sold off were Gulf's retail outlets in Gulf's home market of Pittsburgh, where Chevron lacks a retail presence but does retain a regional headquarters there as of 2013, partially for Marcellus Shale-related drilling. The same year, Standard Oil of California also took the opportunity to change its legal name to 'Chevron Corporation', since it had already been using the well-known "Chevron" retail brand name for decades. Chevron would sell the Gulf Oil trademarks for the entire U.S. to Cumberland Farms, the parent company of

Gulf Oil LP Gulf Oil LP (Gulf Oil Limited Partnership) is an American oil company formed when Chevron Corporation acquired the naming rights to the Gulf Oil brand in the United States for $13 billion in 1985.NGC Corporation (later Dynegy) in exchange for a roughly 25% equity stake in NGC. In a merger completed February 1, 2000, Illinova Corp. became a wholly owned subsidiary of Dynegy Inc. and Chevron's stake increased up to 28%. However, in May 2007, Chevron sold its stake in the company for approximately $985 million, resulting in a gain of $680 million.

Merger with Texaco and post-merger

On October 10, 2000, Texaco announced the purchase of

General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...

' share in GM Ovonics,Texaco To Acquire General Motor's Share of GM Ovonic Battery Joint Venture: Deal Reflects Technology's Potential For Broad Energy Applications
. (Press release). Cobabsys, October 10, 2000. Retrieved on August 8, 2007. a manufacturer of NiMH batteries for electric cars, which in 2003, was restructured into Cobasys, a 50/50 joint venture between Chevron and

Energy Conversion Devices Ovonics Energy Conversion Devices (ECD) was an American photovoltaics manufacturer of thin-film solar cells made of amorphous silicon used in flexible laminates and in building-integrated photovoltaics. The company was also a manufacturer of rechargeabl ...

. In 2009, both Chevron and Energy Conservation Devices sold their stakes in Cobasys to SB LiMotive Co. On October 15, 2000, Chevron announced acquisition of Texaco in a deal valued at $45 billion, creating the second-largest oil company in the United States and the world's fourth-largest publicly traded oil company with a combined market value of approximately $95 billion. The acquisition was completed on October 9, 2001. The merged company was named "ChevronTexaco". On May 9, 2005, ChevronTexaco announced it would drop the Texaco

moniker A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...

and return to the Chevron name. Texaco remained as a brand under the Chevron Corporation. In 2005, Chevron purchased Unocal Corporation for $18.4 billion, increasing the company's petroleum and natural gas reserves by about 15%. Because of Unocal's large South East Asian geothermal operations, Chevron became a large producer of

geothermal energy Geothermal energy is the thermal energy in the Earth's crust which originates from the formation of the planet and from radioactive decay of materials in currently uncertain but possibly roughly equal proportions. The high temperature and pres ...

. The deal did not include Unocal's former retail operations including the

Union 76 76 (formerly Union 76) is a chain of gas stations located within the United States. The 76 brand is owned by Phillips 66. Unocal, the original owner and creator of the 76 brand, merged with Chevron Corporation in 2005. History The Union O ...

trademark, as it had sold that off to

Tosco Corporation Tosco (The Oil Shale COrporation) was an independent US based petroleum refining and marketing corporation based in Stamford, Connecticut. It was founded in 1955 in Santa Monica, California by A&P heir Huntington Hartford, and originally focuse ...

in 1997. The 76 brand is currently owned by

Phillips 66 The Phillips 66 Company is an American Multinational corporation, multinational energy company headquartered in Westchase, Houston, Westchase, Houston, Houston, Texas. Its name, dating back to 1927 as a trademark of the Phillips Petroleum Compan ...

, unaffiliated with Chevron. Chevron and the Los Alamos National Laboratory started a cooperation in 2006, to improve the recovery of hydrocarbons from oil shale by developing a shale oil extraction process named

Chevron CRUSH Chevron CRUSH is an experimental ''in situ'' shale oil extraction technology to convert kerogen in oil shale to shale oil. The name stands for Chevron's Technology for the Recovery and Upgrading of Oil from Shale. It is developed jointly by Chevro ...

. In 2006, the United States Department of the Interior issued a research, development and demonstration lease for Chevron's demonstration oil shale project on public lands in Colorado's Piceance Basin. In February 2012, Chevron notified the

Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands. Headquartered in Washington DC, and with oversight over , it governs one eighth of the country's la ...

and the Department of Reclamation, Mining and Safety that it intends to divest this lease. In 2010 Chevron established the Niger Delta Partnership Initiative (NDPI), a non-profit that works with local organizations to promote economic growth, reduce HIV transmission rates, and empower women. The Initiative was initially funded with a $50 million grant. An additional $40 million was donated in 2013. In July 2010, Chevron ended retail operations in the Mid-Atlantic United States by removing the Chevron and Texaco names from 1,100 stations. In 2011, Chevron acquired Pennsylvania based

Atlas Energy Inc Atlas America, Inc., until its acquisition by Chevron in 2010, was a natural gas and oil extraction company based in suburban Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the United States. The corporation was also involved in the transportation of resources and ...

. for $3.2 billion in cash and an additional $1.1 billion in existing debt owed by Atlas. Three months later, Chevron acquired drilling and development rights for another 228,000 acres in the Marcellus Shale from Chief Oil & Gas LLC and Tug Hill, Inc. In September 2013, Total S.A. and its joint venture partner agreed to buy Chevron's retail distribution business in Pakistan for an undisclosed amount. In October 2014, Chevron announced that it would sell a 30 percent holding in its Canadian oil shale holdings to Kuwait's state-owned oil company

Kuwait Oil Company The Kuwait Oil Company (KOC), an oil company headquartered in Al Ahmadi - Kuwait, is a subsidiary of the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, a government-owned holding company. Kuwait was the world's 10th largest petroleum and other liquids producer ...

for a fee of $1.5 billion. In 2016, Chevron announced it was planning to exit South Africa, where it had had a presence for over a century. In April 2019, Chevron announced their intention to acquire Anadarko Petroleum in a deal valued at $33 billion, but decided to focus on other acquisitions shortly afterwards when a deal could not be reached. In February 2020, Chevron joins Marubeni Corporation and WAVE Equity Partners in investing in Carbon Clean Solutions, a company that provides portable carbon capture technology for the oil field and other industrial facilities. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic and

2020 Russia–Saudi Arabia oil price war On 8 March 2020, Saudi Arabia initiated a price war on oil with Russia, facilitating a 65% quarterly fall in the price of oil. In the first few weeks of March, US oil prices fell by 34%, crude oil fell by 26%, and Brent oil fell by 24%. The pr ...

, Chevron announced reductions of 10–15% of its workforce. On July 20, 2020, Chevron announced that it would acquire Noble Energy for $5 billion. Chevron considered a merger with rival ExxonMobil in 2020 during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic that drove oil demand sharply down. It would have been one of the biggest corporate mergers in history, and a combined Chevron and ExxonMobil (dubbed "Chexxon" by Reuters) would have been the second biggest oil company in the world, trailing only

. In August 2021, Chevron began requiring some employees, namely expatriate employees, those working overseas, and workers on U.S.-flagged ships, to receive COVID-19 vaccinations after having some key operations, the off-shore platforms off the Gulf of Mexico and

Permian Basin The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.9 Mya. It is the last period of the Paleoz ...

for example. The requirement will begin for workers off the Gulf of Mexico on the first of November. On January 5, 2022, Chevron temporarily decreased production in Kazakhstan's Tengiz Field due to the

2022 Kazakh protests The 2022 Kazakh unrest, also known as Bloody January () or the January tragedy (), was a series of mass protests that began in Kazakhstan on 2 January 2022 after a sudden sharp increase in liquefied gas prices following the lifting of a governm ...

, which were motivated by heavy oil price increases. On January 21, 2022, Chevron announced it would end all operations in

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

, citing rampant human rights abuses and deteriorating rule of law since the

2021 Myanmar coup d'état A coup d'état in Myanmar began on the morning of 1 February 2021, when democratically elected members of the country's ruling party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), were deposed by the Tatmadaw—Myanmar's military—which then veste ...

. A statement released by the company on its website stated while Chevron was committed to an orderly exit which ensures it can still provide energy to Southeast Asia, Chevron remains firmly opposed to the human rights violations committed by the current military rule in Myanmar. A Reuters report released on February 21, 2022, alluded that Chevron was seeking to sell stakes in three fields located in

Equatorial Guinea Equatorial Guinea ( es, Guinea Ecuatorial; french: Guinée équatoriale; pt, Guiné Equatorial), officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea ( es, link=no, República de Guinea Ecuatorial, french: link=no, République de Guinée équatoria ...

. Reuters reported that the sales may be intended to attract smaller oil companies. On February 28, 2022, Chevron announced that they will acquire

Renewable Energy Group Renewable Energy Group is a biodiesel production company headquartered in Ames, Iowa. The company operates 12 biorefineries and a feedstock processing facility. , the company is a Fortune 1000 corporation. History Renewable Energy Group began i ...

, a biodiesel production company based in

Ames, Iowa Ames () is a city in Story County, Iowa, United States, located approximately north of Des Moines in central Iowa. It is best known as the home of Iowa State University (ISU), with leading agriculture, design, engineering, and veterinary medici ...

. The acquisition was completed almost 4 months later on June 13. On March 10, 2022, Chevron Phillips Chemical, a company jointly owned by Chevron and

, agreed to pay $118 million as a result of violating the Clean Air Act at three of its chemical production plants in Texas. According to the United States' Department of Justice and

Environmental Protection Agency A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...

, Chevron and Phillips failed to properly flare at the plants, causing excess air pollution. The companies agreed to add pollution control systems to the plants as well. In 2022, the major oil and gas companies, including Chevron, reported sharp rises in interim revenues and profits. In November 2022, it was announced the Chevron subsidiary, Chevron USA Inc., had acquired Beyond6, LLC (B6) and its network of 55 compressed natural gas (CNG) stations across the United States from

Mercuria Mercuria Energy Group Ltd is a Cypriot-domiciled multinational commodity trading company active in a wide spectrum of global energy markets including crude oil and refined petroleum products, natural gas (including LNG), power, biodiesel, base ...

Corporate image

Logo evolution

The first logo featured the legend "Pacific Coast Oil Co.", the name adopted by the company when it was established in 1879. Successive versions showed the word 'Standard' (for "The Standard Oil of California"). In 1968, the company introduced the word 'Chevron' (which was introduced as a brand in the 1930s) for the first time in its logo. In July 2014, the Chevron Corporation logo design was officially changed, although it has been used since 2000. By 2015, the logo had been changed multiple times, with three different color schemes applied in the logo. The logo was gray, then blue, and then turned red before returning to the silver gray it is today. File:Pacific coast oil logo.png, 1879–1906
("Pacific Coast Oil Co.") File:Standardoil calif logo 1931.png, 1931–1948 File:Chevron logo1969.png, 1968–2007 File:Chevron Logo.svg, 2006–present

Operations

As of December 31, 2018, Chevron had approximately 48,600 employees (including about 3,600 service station employees). Approximately 24,800 employees (including about 3,300 service station employees), or 51 percent, were employed in U.S. operations. In October 2015, Chevron announced that it is cutting up to 7,000 jobs, or 11 percent of its workforce. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic and

, Chevron announced reductions of 10–15% of its workforce.

Upstream

Chevron's oil and gas exploration and production operations, which in the oil and gas industry are considered as "

upstream Upstream may refer to: * Upstream (bioprocess) * ''Upstream'' (film), a 1927 film by John Ford * Upstream (networking) * ''Upstream'' (newspaper), a newspaper covering the oil and gas industry * Upstream (petroleum industry) * Upstream (software ...

" operations, are primarily in the US, Australia, Nigeria, Angola, Kazakhstan, and the Gulf of Mexico. As of December 31, 2018, the company's upstream business reported worldwide net production of 2.930 million oil-equivalent barrels per day. ChevronInWyoming

In the United States, the company operates approximately 11,000 oil and natural gas wells in hundreds of fields occupying across the

, located in West Texas and southeastern New Mexico. In 2010, Chevron was the fourth-largest producer in the region. In February 2011, Chevron celebrated the production of its 5 billionth barrel of Permian Basin oil. The Gulf of Mexico is where the company's deepest offshore drilling takes place at Tahiti and Blind Faith. It also explores and drills the Marcellus Shale formation under several northeastern US states. Chevron's largest single resource project is the $43 billion

Gorgon Gas Project The Gorgon gas project is a multi-decade natural gas project in Western Australia, involving the development of the Greater Gorgon gas fields, subsea gas-gathering infrastructure, and a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant on Barrow Island. The pr ...

in Australia. It also produces natural gas from Western Australia. The $43 billion project was started in 2010, and was expected to be brought online in 2014. The project includes construction of a 15 million tonne per annum

liquefied natural gas plant Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled down to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the volu ...

on Barrow Island, and a domestic gas plant with the capacity to provide 300 terajoules per day to supply gas to Western Australia. It is also developing the Wheatstone liquefied natural gas development in Western Australia. The foundation phase of the project is estimated to cost $29 billion; it will consist of two LNG processing trains with a combined capacity of 8.9 million tons per annum, a domestic gas plant and associated offshore infrastructure. In August 2014 a significant gas-condensate discovery at the Lasseter-1 exploration well in WA-274-P in Western Australia, in which Chevron has a 50% interest was announced. The company also has an interest in the North West Shelf Venture, equally shared with five other investors including BP, BHP Petroleum, Shell,

Mitsubishi The is a group of autonomous Japanese multinational companies in a variety of industries. Founded by Yatarō Iwasaki in 1870, the Mitsubishi Group historically descended from the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, a unified company which existed from 1870 ...

/ Mitsui and

Woodside Woodside may refer to: Places and buildings Australia *Woodside, South Australia, a town *Woodside, Victoria, a town Canada *Woodside National Historic Site, the boyhood home of William Lyon Mackenzie King *Woodside, Nova Scotia, a neighborho ...

. In the onshore and near-offshore regions of the Niger Delta, Chevron operates under a joint venture with the

Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation NNPC Limited is a for profit oil company in Nigeria. Formerly a government-owned corporation, it was transformed from a corporation to a limited liability company in July 2022. NNPC Limited is the only entity licensed to operate in the country' ...

, operating and holding a 40% interest in 13 concessions in the region. In addition, Chevron operates the Escravos Gas Plant and the Escravos gas-to-liquids plant. Chevron has interests in four concessions in Angola, including offshore two concessions in

Cabinda province Cabinda (formerly called Portuguese Congo, kg, Kabinda) is an exclave and province of Angola in Africa, a status that has been disputed by several political organizations in the territory. The capital city is also called Cabinda, known locall ...

, the Tombua–Landana development and the Mafumeira Norte project, operated by the company. It is also a leading partner in

Angola LNG plant Angola LNG is a liquid natural gas (LNG) facility in Soyo, Angola. Technical features The Angola LNG plant is a single train facility with production capacity of 5.2 million tonnes per year. The plant uses ConocoPhillips' proprietary natural g ...

. In Kazakhstan, Chevron participate the Tengiz and Karachaganak projects. In 2010, Chevron became the largest private shareholder in the Caspian Pipeline Consortium pipeline, which transports oil from the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea. As of 2013, the

Rosebank oil and gas field The Rosebank oil and gas field lies west of Shetland. It is operated by Equinor; Suncor and Siccar Point Energy. The discovery well was drilled in 2004. A final investment decision for Rosebank is planned to be taken by May 2022. In 2022, Siccar P ...

west of

Shetland Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the no ...

was being evaluated by Chevron and its partners. Chevron drilled its discovery well there in 2004. Production is expected in 2015 if a decision is made to produce from the field. The geology and weather conditions are challenging.

Midstream

As of 2019, Chevron did not own significant midstream assets; that year it attempted to purchase Anadarko Petroleum, which owned pipelines, but was outbid by

Occidental Petroleum Occidental Petroleum Corporation (often abbreviated Oxy in reference to its ticker symbol and logo) is an American company engaged in hydrocarbon exploration in the United States, and the Middle East as well as petrochemical manufacturing in the ...

. In 2021, Chevron completed it's purchase of Noble Midstream Partners LP, which has crude oil, produced water and gas gathering assets in the Permian Basin in West Texas and the DJ Basin in Colorado. Noble Midstream also has 2 crude oil terminals in the DJ Basin as well as freshwater delivery systems.

Downstream

Refining

Chevron's downstream operations manufacture and sell products such as fuels, lubricants, additives and petrochemicals. The company's most significant areas of operations are the west coast of North America, the U.S. Gulf Coast, Southeast Asia, South Korea, Australia and South Africa. In 2010, Chevron sold an average of of refined products like gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. The company operates approximately 19,550 retail sites in 84 countries. Chevron's Asia downstream headquarters is in Singapore, and the company operates gas stations (under the Caltex brand) within the city state, in addition to some gas stations in Western Canada. Chevron owns the trademark rights to Texaco and Caltex fuel and lubricant products. Chevron, with equal partner

Singapore Petroleum Company Singapore Petroleum Company Limited, in short SPC, is a Singaporean multinational oil and gas company. It is involved in the exploration and production of petroleum, refining, trading and petroleum product distribution. History The company ...

, also owns half of the Singapore Refining Company (SRC) plant, a complex refinery capable of cracking crude oil. The investment was first made in 1979 when Caltex was a one-third partner. In 2010, Chevron processed of crude oil. It owns and operates Five active refineries in the United States (

Richmond, CA Richmond is a city in western Contra Costa County, California, United States. The city was incorporated on August 7, 1905, and has a city council.

, El Segundo, CA, Salt Lake City, UT,

Pascagoula, MS Pascagoula ( ) is a city in Jackson County, Mississippi, United States. It is the principal city of the Pascagoula Metropolitan Statistical Area, and is part of the Gulfport–Biloxi–Pascagoula Combined Statistical Area. The population was 22 ...

Pasadena, TX Pasadena () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, within the metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, U.S. census, the city's population was 151,950, making it the List of cities in Texas by population, twentieth most populous city in the ...

). Chevron is the non-operating partner in seven joint venture refineries, located in Australia, Pakistan, Singapore, Thailand, South Korea, and New Zealand. Chevron's United States refineries are located in Gulf and Western states. Chevron also owns an asphalt refinery in Perth Amboy, New Jersey; however, since early 2008 that refinery has primarily operated as a terminal.

Chemicals

Chevron's primary chemical business is in a 50/50 joint venture with

, organized into the

Chevron Phillips Chevron Phillips Chemical Company, LLC is a petrochemical company jointly owned by Chevron Corporation and Phillips 66. The company was formed July 1, 2000 by merging the chemicals operations of both Chevron Corporation and Phillips Petroleum Co ...

Chemical Company. Chevron also operates the Chevron Oronite Company, which develops, manufactures and sells fuel and lubricant additives.

Transport

Chevron Shipping Company, a wholly owned subsidiary, provides the maritime transport operations, marine consulting services and marine risk management services for Chevron Corporation. Chevron ships historically had names beginning with "Chevron", such as ''Chevron Washington'' and ''Chevron South America'', or were named after former or serving directors of the company.

Samuel Ginn Samuel Lou Ginn (born 3 April 1937), is an American businessman. Early life Samuel Lou Ginn was born on April 3, 1937 in Anniston, Alabama. He is a 1959 graduate of Auburn University's College of Engineering, and was awarded the institution's hono ...

, William E. Crain,

Kenneth Derr Kenneth T. Derr is a member of the board of directors of the Halliburton Company. He is a retired chairman of the board, Chevron Corporation (international oil company). He served as Chevron's Chairman and chief executive officer from January 1, 1 ...

, Richard Matzke and most notably

Condoleezza Rice Condoleezza Rice ( ; born November 14, 1954) is an American diplomat and political scientist who is the current director of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. A member of the Republican Party, she previously served as the 66th Uni ...

were among those honored, but the ship named after Rice was subsequently renamed as ''Altair Voyager''.

Retail

In the United States, the Chevron brand is the most widely used, at 6,880 locations as of September 2022 spread across 21 states. Chevron's highest concentration of stations branded as Chevron are in California (mostly in the San Francisco Bay Area, Central Valley, and Greater Los Angeles), Las Vegas,

Anchorage Anchorage () is the largest city in the U.S. state of Alaska by population. With a population of 291,247 in 2020, it contains nearly 40% of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolitan area, which includes Anchorage and the neighboring Ma ...

, the Pacific Northwest (especially Seattle), Phoenix, Atlanta, the Texas Triangle, and

South Florida South Florida is the southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the other two are Central Florida and North Florida. South Florida is the southernmost part of th ...

. Chevron also utilizes the Texaco brand within the United States, though its locations are much more sparsely-spread than that of Chevron. Texaco is used at 1,346 locations across 17 states, mostly in Washington, Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, and Hawaii. Additionally, Texaco licenses its brand to Valero Energy to use in the United Kingdom, and over 730 Texaco stations exist in Britain. Chevron primarily uses the

brand outside of the United States, primarily in Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, Pakistan, New Zealand, and South Africa. In 2015, Chevron sold its 50% stake in Caltex Australia, while allowing the company to continue using the Caltex brand. In 2019, Chevron announced it would re-enter the Australian market by purchasing Puma Energy's operations in the country. The acquisition was completed in July 2020. Chevron relaunched the Caltex brand in Australia in 2022, after the expiration of Caltex Australia's license to use the Caltex brand.

Alternative energy

Chevron's alternative energy operations include geothermal

solar Solar may refer to: Astronomy * Of or relating to the Sun ** Solar telescope, a special purpose telescope used to observe the Sun ** A device that utilizes solar energy (e.g. "solar panels") ** Solar calendar, a calendar whose dates indicate t ...

, wind,

biofuel Biofuel is a fuel that is produced over a short time span from biomass, rather than by the very slow natural processes involved in the formation of fossil fuels, such as oil. According to the United States Energy Information Administration (E ...

, fuel cells, and hydrogen. In 2021 it significally increased its use of biofuel from dairy farms, like biomethane. Chevron has claimed to be the world's largest producer of

. The company's primary geothermal operations were located in Southeast Asia, but these assets were sold in 2017. Prior, Chevron operated geothermal wells in Indonesia providing power to Jakarta and the surrounding area. In the Philippines, Chevron also operated geothermal wells at Tiwi field in Albay province, the Makiling-Banahaw field in Laguna and Quezon provinces. In 2007, Chevron and the United States Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) started collaboration to develop and produce algae fuel, which could be converted into transportation fuels, such as

jet fuel Jet fuel or aviation turbine fuel (ATF, also abbreviated avtur) is a type of aviation fuel designed for use in aircraft powered by gas-turbine engines. It is colorless to straw-colored in appearance. The most commonly used fuels for commercial a ...

. In 2008, Chevron and Weyerhaeuser created Catchlight Energy LLC, which researches the conversion of cellulose-based biomass into biofuels. In 2013, the Catchlight plan was downsized due to competition with fossil fuel projects for funds. Between 2006 and 2011, Chevron contributed up to $12 million to a strategic research alliance with the Georgia Institute of Technology to develop cellulosic biofuels and to create a process to convert biomass like wood or switchgrass into fuels. Additionally, Chevron holds a 22% stake in Galveston Bay Biodiesel LP, which produces up to of renewable biodiesel fuel a year. In 2010, the Chevron announced a 740 kW

photovoltaic Photovoltaics (PV) is the conversion of light into electricity using semiconducting materials that exhibit the photovoltaic effect, a phenomenon studied in physics, photochemistry, and electrochemistry. The photovoltaic effect is commercially us ...

demonstration project in

Bakersfield, California Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's populat ...

, called Project Brightfield, for exploring possibilities to use solar power for powering Chevron's facilities. It consists of technologies from seven companies, which Chevron is evaluating for large-scale use. In

Fellows, California Fellows is a census-designated place (CDP) in Kern County, California, United States. Fellows is located west-northwest of Taft, at an elevation of . The population was 106 at the 2010 census, down from 153 at the 2000 census. Fellows is surrou ...

, Chevron has invested in the 500 kW Solarmine photovoltaic solar project, which supplies daytime power to the Midway-Sunset Oil Field. In Questa, Chevron has built a 1 MW

concentrated photovoltaic Concentrator photovoltaics (CPV) (also known as concentration photovoltaics) is a photovoltaic technology that generates electricity from sunlight. Unlike conventional photovoltaic systems, it uses lenses or curved mirrors to focus sunlight on ...

plant that comprises 173 solar arrays, which use Fresnel lenses. In October 2011, Chevron launched a 29-MW thermal solar-to-steam facility in the

Coalinga Field The Coalinga Oil Field is a large oil field in western Fresno County, California, in the United States. It surrounds the town of Coalinga, about halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco, to the west of Interstate 5, at the foot of the Diablo ...

to produce the steam for

enhanced oil recovery Enhanced oil recovery (abbreviated EOR), also called tertiary recovery, is the extraction of crude oil from an oil field that cannot be extracted otherwise. EOR can extract 30% to 60% or more of a reservoir's oil, compared to 20% to 40% using ...

. As of 2012, the project is the largest of its kind in the world. In 2014, Chevron began reducing its investment in renewable energy technologies, reducing headcount and selling alternative energy-related assets. In 2015, the Shell Canada Quest Energy project was launched of which Chevron Canada Limited holds a 20% share. The project is based within the Athabasca Oil Sands Project near Fort McMurray, Alberta. It is the world's first CCS project on a commercial-scale.

Corporate affairs

Finances

For the fiscal year 2011, Chevron reported earnings of 26.9 billion, with an annual revenue of 257.3 billion, an increase of 23.3% over the previous fiscal cycle. Chevron's shares traded at over $105 per share, and its market capitalization was valued at over 240 billion. As of 2018, Chevron is ranked No. 13 on the

Fortune 500 The ''Fortune'' 500 is an annual list compiled and published by ''Fortune'' magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States corporations by total revenue for their respective fiscal years. The list includes publicly held companies, along ...

rankings of the largest United States corporations by total revenue.

Headquarters and Offices

California

Chevron's corporate headquarters were located in a 92-acre campus in

located at 6001 Bollinger Canyon Road. The company moved there in 2002 from its earlier headquarters at

555 Market Street Market Center, formerly known as the Standard Oil Buildings and later the Chevron Towers, is a complex comprising two skyscrapers at 555–575 Market Street in the Financial District of downtown San Francisco, California. It served as the headq ...

in San Francisco, California, the city where it had been located since its inception in 1879. Chevron sold its San Ramon headquarters to the local Sunset Development Co. in September 2022, from whom it originally bought the land which the Bollinger Canyon Road headquarters today stand, and is planning to lease space in San Ramon's

Bishop Ranch Bishop Ranch is a large business park in San Ramon, California. Tenants include AT&T, Chevron, Bank of the West, PG&E, Robert Half International, Ford Motor Company, SAP, General Electric, and JPMorgan Chase. Over 30,000 employees work in Bishop ...

, also owned by Sunset, as its new headquarters.

Texas

Chevron operates from office towers in Houston, Texas, where it purchased

1500 Louisiana Street 1500 Louisiana Street, formerly Enron Center South, is a 600 ft (183m) tall skyscraper in Houston, Texas. It was completed in 2002 and has 40 floors and a total building area of 1,284,013sq.ft. It is the 17th tallest building in the city and ...

and

1400 Smith Street __NOTOC__ 1400 Smith Street (formerly Enron Complex) is a tall skyscraper located in Downtown Houston, downtown Houston, Texas, United States. The building has 50 floors and is the List of tallest buildings in Houston, 11th tallest building in th ...

, the former headquarters of failed Texas energy giant Enron. Chevron also planned a new office tower in downtown Houston next to its existing properties at 1600 Louisiana Street. The building will stand 50-stories and 832 feet. Upon its completion, it would be the fourth tallest building in Houston and the first 50-story building constructed there in nearly 30 years. However, the contract with the state government of Texas that Chevron made did not require that Chevron follow through with the plans and build the office tower, and as such, Chevron announced in 2016 it had no plans to build the tower, which currently remains undeveloped as of July 2022. Upon Chevron announcing that it was selling its San Ramon headquarters in 2022 and offered to cover moving costs for employees who wishes to relocate to Texas, though, interest sparked in Chevron potentially following through with building a tower at 1600 Louisiana.

Advertising and "Human Energy"

Chevron today is well known for its slogan "the human energy company", a campaign first launched in 2007. In a corporate blog, Chevron states "human energy" was chosen as their campaign's slogan and focus because "human energy captures our positive spirit in delivering energy to a rapidly changing world".

Political contributions

Since January 2011 Chevron has contributed almost $15 million on Washington lobbying. On October 7, 2012, Chevron donated $2.5 million to the Republican

Congressional Leadership Fund The Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF) is a Super PAC dedicated to electing Republicans to the U.S. House of Representatives. The Super PAC, which was closely linked to former House Speaker John Boehner and House GOP leadership, was founded in ...

super

PAC Pac or PAC may refer to: Military * Rapid Deployment Force (Malaysia), an armed forces unit * Patriot Advanced Capability, of the MIM-104 Patriot missile * Civil Defense Patrols (''Patrullas de Autodefensa Civil''), Guatemalan militia and paramili ...

that is closely tied to former

House Speaker The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body, is its presiding officer, or the chair. The title was first used in 1377 in England. Usage The title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hungerfo ...

John Boehner John Andrew Boehner ( ; born , 1949) is an American retired politician who served as the 53rd speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2011 to 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he served 13 terms as the U.S. represe ...

. According to watchdog group Documented, in 2020 Chevron contributed $50,000 to the Rule of Law Defense Fund, a fund-raising arm of the Republican Attorneys General Association.

Board of directors

Wanda Austin Wanda M. Austin (born 1954) is a former president and CEO of The Aerospace Corporation. She was both the first woman, and the first African-American, to hold this position. Austin also served as interim president for the University of Southern C ...

John B. Frank John Bernkopf Frank (born 1956) is the Vice Chairman of Oaktree Capital Management, having previously served as Managing Principal. Early life John Bernkopf Frank was born in 1956, the son of Sally (née Bernkopf) and Howard A. Frank. His father ...

Alice P. Gast Alice Petry Gast (born May 25, 1958) is an American researcher, was the 16th president of Imperial College London, and sits on the board of directors of Chevron. Gast was named one of the top 100 "Modern Era" engineers in the US under the categ ...

Enrique Hernandez Jr. Enrique Hernandez Jr. (born November 2, 1955) is an American lawyer and business executive. He is president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Inter-Con Security Systems, Inc., and a director of Wells Fargo & Company. He has been the non-exe ...

Marillyn Hewson Marillyn Adams Hewson (born December 27, 1953) is an American businesswoman who served as the chairman, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Lockheed Martin from January 2013 to June 2020. She is currently the strategic advisor to the ...

Jon M. Huntsman Jr. Jon Meade Huntsman Jr. (born March 26, 1960) is an American businessman, diplomat and politician who served as the 16th Governor of Utah from 2005 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the Ambassador of the United States to ...

Charles Moorman Charles Wickliffe "Wick" Moorman IV (born 1952) is an American businessman and railroader. Moorman is currently a consultant with Amtrak, where he formerly served as president and CEO as well as co-CEO. Prior to his hiring by Amtrak, Moorman ser ...

Dambisa Moyo Dambisa Felicia Moyo, Baroness Moyo (born 2 February 1969)Moyo showed a copy of an official document with her date and place of birth as part of a lecture she gave at TEDGlobal 2013, Edinburgh, Scotland. is a Zambian-born economist and author, ...

* Debra Reed-Klages *

Ronald Sugar Ronald D. Sugar (born July 30, 1948) is an American business executive. He served as the chairman of the board and chief executive officer of the Northrop Grumman Corporation from 2003 to 2009. On August 1, 2018 he was unanimously elected as ind ...

Lead Director * Inge Thulin *

Jim Umpleby D. James Umpleby III is an American businessman. He became the CEO of Caterpillar Inc. as of January 2017, and chairman of the Caterpillar board of directors in December 2018. Biography Early life and education Umpleby was raised in Highland, I ...

Mike Wirth Michael Wirth (born 1960) is an American businessman who ihas been the chairman and CEO of Chevron Corporation since 2018. Previously, he was the vice chairman of the company. Early life After graduating from high school, Wirth attended the ...

(Chairman & CEO)

is a former member of the board of directors, and also headed Chevron's committee on public policy until she resigned on January 15, 2001, to become National Security Advisor to President George W. Bush. Chevron's current CEO is

, succeeding John Watson after a ten year term.

Controversies

Chevron has been widely criticized and attacked for scandals, accidents, and activities mostly related to climate change. Chevron's most widely-known scandal involves Texaco's activities in the

, which Chevron is deemed responsible for due to its acquisition of Texaco in 2001. Chevron has been most widely criticized for its handling of litigation against it filed by residents of the Lago Agrio region, which included what activists see as the "jailing" of Lago Agrio lawyer

. Protestors also frequently hold an annual Anti-Chevron day, usually held within a week of Chevron's annual meeting of shareholders.

Chevron and computer games

In the summer of 1992, Maxis, the creators of SimCity, started a division within their company called Maxis Business Simulations (MBS), which was responsible for making serious professional simulations that looked and played like Maxis games. The first project for MBS was to make a game about an oil refinery for Chevron, eventually named

SimRefinery ''SimRefinery'' is a computer management simulation game designed to simulate Chevron's Richmond refinery operation. It was developed by the Maxis Business Simulations division of Maxis in 1993. John Hiles, who was the head of the Maxis divisio ...

. Since oil refineries are incredibly complicated process plants, Chevron wanted Maxis to make them a game like SimCity, as a training tool to teach employees at their oil refinery in Richmond, California how the refinery worked. SimRefinery was finished in the fall of 1992 and handed over to Chevron. While Chevron's training specialists praised the game's training effectiveness, SimRefinery did not get widespread use within the company and was eventually discontinued. In June 2020, a working copy of SimRefinery was recovered and uploaded to the Internet Archive, giving the public their first chance to play the historic game.

Notes

References

External links

* {{Authority control Multinational oil companies Oil companies of the United States Chemical companies of the United States Algal fuel producers Automotive fuel retailers Gas stations in Canada Gas stations in the United States Companies based in San Ramon, California Automotive companies of the United States Multinational companies headquartered in the United States Petroleum in California Companies in the Dow Jones Industrial Average Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange Retail companies established in 1879 Non-renewable resource companies established in 1879 American companies established in 1879 1879 establishments in California Corporate crime