Chevron Corporation

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Chevron Corporation
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Type	Public (NYSE: CVX)
Founded	1879 (Standard Oil of California)
Headquarters	San Ramon, California
Key people	David J. O'Reilly (CEO) & (Chairman) Stephen J. Crowe (Vice President) & (CFO)
Area served	Worldwide
Industry	Oil and Gasoline Mining
Products	Oil Petroleum Natural Gas Petrochemical Fuel Lubricant List of marketing brands
Revenue	US$ 220.904 billion (2007)
Operating income	US$ 32.167 billion (2007)
Net income	US$ 18.688 billion (2007)
Employees	60,000 (2008)
Subsidiaries	Chevron Global Exploration and Corporate Reserves Chevron Africa & Latin America Exploration & Production Chevron Asia Pacific Exploration & Production Chevron Eurasia, Europe and Middle East Exploration & Production Chevron North America Exploration & Production Chevron Global Gas Chevron Global Marketing Chevron Global Lubricants Chevron Global Manufacturing Chevron Global Supply and Trading Chevron Oronite Chevron Phillips Chemical Chevron Mining Chevron Business and Real Estate Services Chevron Energy Solutions Chevron Environmental Management Chevron Energy Technology Chevron Information Technology Chevron Project Resources Chevron Strategic Research Chevron Technology Marketing Chevron Technology Ventures
Website	Chevron.com

Chart of the major energy companies dubbed "Big Oil" sorted by latest published revenue

File:Chevronheadquartersentrance.jpg

Entrance to Chevron's headquarters complex in San Ramon, California

One view of the sprawling Chevron headquarters complex

A Standard-branded Chevron station (with Chevron logo) in Fort Worth, Texas

Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX) is the world's fourth largest non-government energy company. Headquartered in San Ramon, California, USA, and active in more than 180 countries, it is engaged in every aspect of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production; refining, marketing and transport; chemicals manufacturing and sales; and power generation. Chevron is one of the world's six "supermajor" oil companies.

History

The company marked its 125th anniversary in 2004, tracing its roots to an oil discovery in Pico Canyon (now the Pico Canyon Oilfield) north of Los Angeles. This find led to the formation, in 1879, of the Pacific Coast Oil Company, the oldest predecessor of Chevron Corporation. Another side of the genealogical chart points to the 1901 founding of The Texas Fuel Company, a modest enterprise that started out in three rooms of a corrugated iron building in Beaumont, Texas. This company would later become known as Texaco.

Chevron Corporation was originally known as Standard Oil of California, or SoCal, and was formed amid the antitrust breakup of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil company in 1911. It was one of the "Seven Sisters" that dominated the world oil industry during the early 20th century. In 1933, Saudi Arabia granted SoCal a concession to find oil, which occurred in 1938. In the early 1950s, SoCal discovered the world's largest oil field (Ghawar) in Saudi Arabia. SoCal's subsidiary, California-Arabian Standard Oil Company, evolved over the years, becoming 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, the name was changed to Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco).

In 1984, the merger between Standard Oil of California and Gulf Oil was the largest merger in history at that time. Because of its size, SoCal divested many of Gulf's operating subsidiaries and sold some Gulf stations and a refinery in the eastern United States to satisfy U.S. antitrust requirements. As part of the merger, SoCal changed its name to Chevron Corporation.

In June 1998 Dynegy, Inc. (NYSE: DYN) was created from the merger of Chevron's former natural gas and natural gas liquids businesses with Dynegy's predecessor, NGC Corp. (formerly NYSE: NGL). NGC had been an integrated natural gas services company around since 1994.

In a merger completed February 1, 2000, Illinova Corp. (formerly NYSE: ILN) became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dynegy Inc., in which Chevron also took a 28% stake.

In 2001, Chevron Corporation acquired Texaco to form ChevronTexaco.

On May 9, 2005, ChevronTexaco announced it would drop the Texaco moniker and return to the Chevron name. Texaco remains as a brand name under the Chevron Corporation. On August 19, 2005, Chevron acquired the Unocal Corporation. Because of Unocal's large South East Asian geothermal operations, this made Chevron the world's largest producer of geothermal energy.

Overview

Chevron employs approximately 59,000 people worldwide (of which 27,000 are U.S.-based) and had approximately 12 billion barrels (1.9 km³) of oil-equivalent net proved reserves at December 31, 2003. Daily production in 2003 was 2.5 million net oil-equivalent barrels (400,000 m³) per day. In addition, the company had a global refining capacity at year-end 2003 of 2.2 million barrels (350,000 m³) of crude oil per day. The company has a worldwide marketing network in 84 countries with approximately 24,000 retail sites, including those of affiliate companies. The company also has interests in 13 power generating assets in the United States, Asia, and Europe. Chevron also has gas stations in Western Canada.

Chevron was headquartered in San Francisco for nearly a century before it relocated its headquarters across the bay to San Ramon CA. Chevron's headquarters buildings at 555 and 575 Market Street, built in the mid-1960s, in San Francisco were sold in December 1999. Its original headquarters were at 225 Bush St., built in 1912. Now, their headquarters are at 6001 Bollinger Canyon Road, San Ramon, CA.

Chevron is the owner of the Standard Oil trademark in a 16-state area of the western and southeastern United States. To maintain ownership of the mark, the company owns and operates one Standard-branded Chevron station in each state of its area. Chevron also is currently the owner of the trademark rights to Texaco brand gasoline. Texaco fuels are now supplied by Chevron's network of wholesalers.

Chevron is the only brand of gas used by several automakers when testing vehicles, including General Motors and Toyota. (Ford does as well despite a strategic alliance with BP.) Chevron also has often had one of the highest brand loyalty rates for gasoline in America, with only Shell and BP (through Amoco) having equally high rates.^{[citation needed]}

Chevron Shipping Company is a wholly owned subsidiary company which handles the maritime transport operation for Chevron Corporation. The fleet comprises crude oil and product tankers as well as three gas tankers operated by Chevron Shipping for other companies. The fleet is divided into two sections: The US fleet transports oil products from Chevron refineries to customers in the US. The ships are manned by US citizens and are flagged in the US. The International fleet vessels are flagged in the Bahamas and have officers and crews from many different nations. The largest ships are 308,000 tonne VLCCs. The job of the international fleet is to transport crude oil from the oilfields to the refineries. The international fleet mans two LPG tankers and one LNG tanker.

Chevron ships originally had names beginning with "Chevron", such as the Chevron Washington and Chevron South America, or were named after former or serving Directors of the company. Samuel Ginn, William E Crain and most notably Condoleezza Rice were amongst those honored, but controversy led to its being renamed Altair Voyager. All the ships were renamed in 2001 to reflect the corporate merger with Texaco. The International fleet ships are all named after celestial bodies or constellations (Orion Voyager, Altair Voyager etc) and the US ships are named after states (Washington Voyager, Colorado Voyager etc).

Alternative energy

The company also develops, and commercializes advanced energy technologies, including fuel cells, photovoltaics, and advanced batteries, and is active in research and development efforts to utilize hydrogen as a fuel for transport and power.

Biofuels

Chevron is investing $300M USD a year into alternative fuel sources, and has created a biofuels business unit.

Chevron Corporation and US-DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) announced that they had entered into a collaborative research and development agreement to produce biofuels from algae. Under the agreement, Chevron and NREL scientists will collaborate to identify and develop algae strains that can be economically harvested and processed into transportation fuels such as jet fuel.

Environmental record

From 1965 to 1993, Texaco participated in a consortium to develop the Lago Agrio oil field in Ecuador. It has been accused of extensive environmental damage from these operations, and faces legal claims from both private plaintiffs and the government of Ecuador. The case has been widely publicized by environmental activists. Chevron claims that it is being unfairly targeted as a deep pocket defendant, when the actual responsibility lies with the government and its national oil company.

Chevron’s activities in Richmond, California have been the subject of ongoing controversy. The project houses over 11 million pounds of toxic materials and has been responsible for over 304 accidents. For illegally bypassing wastewater treatments and failing to notify the public about toxic releases, Chevron’s Richmond refineries were forced to pay $540,000 in 1998. Overall, Chevron is listed as potentially responsible for ninety-five Superfund sites—locations for which the EPA has earmarked funds for cleanup. In October, 2003, the state of New Hampshire sued Chevron and other oil companies for using MTBE, a gasoline additive that the attorney general claimed polluted much of the state's water supply.

Chevron’s African operations have also been criticized as environmentally unsound. In 2002, Angola became the first African nation ever to fine a major multinational corporation operating in its own waters when it demanded 2 million dollars in compensation for oil spills allegedly caused by Chevron’s poor maintenance.

On October 16, 2003, Chevron U.S.A. Inc. resolved a Clean Air Act settlement, which reduced harmful air emissions by about 10,000 tons a year. In San Francisco, Chevron was filed by a consent decree to spend almost $275 million to install and utilize innovative technology to reduce nitrogen and sulfur dioxide emissions at its refineries. After violating the Clean Air Act at an offline loading terminal in El Segundo, California, Chevron paid a $6 million penalty as well as $1 million for environmental improvement projects. Chevron also had implemented programs that minimized production of hazardous gases, upgraded its leak detection and repair practices, reduced emissions from its sulfur recovery plants and adopted strategies to ensure the proper handling of harmful benzene wastes at each refinery. Chevron also spent about $500,000 to install leakless valves and double-sealed pumps at its El Segundo refinery, which could prevent significant emissions of air contaminants.

Defenders of Chevron’s environmental record point to recent changes in the corporation, particularly its pledge, as of 2004, to combat global warming.

Niger Delta incident

On May 28, 1998, activists staged a demonstration and took several individuals hostage on a private oil platform in the Niger Delta, Nigeria. Nigerian police and soldiers were allegedly flown in with Chevron helicopters. Soldiers shot at the activists and subsequently two activists (Jola Ogungbeje and Aroleka Irowaninu) died from their wounds. Chevron describes the situation as "a violent occupation of private property by aggressors seeking to extort cash payments from the company." The Nigerian government is reportedly 80% dependent upon oil production and is condemned by many for its reported treatment of environmentalists. The documentary "Drilling and Killing" covers these and other topics.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston, allowing a lawsuit brought by victims and victims' families against Chevron to proceed, said that there may be evidence that Chevron has hired, supervised, and/or provided transportation to Nigerian military forces known for their "general history of committing abuses." In March 2008, the plaintiffs' lawyers, without explanation, "quietly moved to withdraw half of their claims" against Chevron.

Accusations of irresponsibility

Chevron has been accused of not fulfilling its community responsibilities in Cabinda, Angola. Chevron's employees work in isolation in the Malongo terminal, which is protected by barbed wire fence and guarded gates because of security concerns. Most of the groceries and other commodities are imported duty free from overseas, limiting the economic impact on local markets. In a survey, Cabindans expressed their concern that the multi-billion dollar oil industry has not improved their daily lives.

New Policy and Development

Chevron has taken steps to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and pursue cleaner forms of energy. Chevron has scored highest among U.S. oil companies for investing in alternative energy sources and setting targets for reducing its own emissions. Chevron is the world's largest producer of geothermal energy, providing enough power for over 7 million homes.

Board of Directors

As of April 2007 [2]:

• David J. O'Reilly (Chairman & CEO)
• Samual Armacost
• Linnet F. Deily
• Robert Denham
• Robert Eaton
• Sam Ginn
• Franklyn Jenifer
• Sam Nunn
• Donald Rice
• Peter Robertson
• Charles Shoemate
• Ronald Sugar
• Carl Ware

Condoleezza Rice 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.

Marketing brands

The typical Chevron gas station design that was used until 2006.

In 2006, Chevron began phasing in this gas station design.

Fuel

• Chevron
• Standard Oil (in limited circumstances)
• Texaco
• Caltex
• Gulf
• Unocal

Convenience stores

• Star Mart
• Extra Mile [3]
• Redwood Market
• Town Pantry [4]

Lubricants

• Delo (sold by Caltex and Chevron)
• Havoline (sold by Caltex and Texaco)
• Revtex (sold by Caltex)
• Ursa (sold by Texaco)

Fuel additives

• Techron - Chevron, Texaco (phased in during 2005), Caltex (phased in during 2006 and later)
• Clean System 3 - Texaco (phased out during 2005 in favor of Techron)

Other

In 2005, it was among 53 entities that contributed the maximum of $250,000 to the second inauguration of President George W. Bush.

See also

• Jack 2
• General Motors streetcar conspiracy

External links

Template:Companies portal

General Information

• Chevron Corporate Site
• Chevron Careers Site
• Chevron Official Site
• Texaco Official Site
• Caltex Official Site
• Unocal Official Site
• ChevronTexaco 125th Anniversary
• Chevron Real Issues Advertising
• Chevron Clean Energy Forum

Criticism

• World Internet News: "Big Oil Looking for a Government Handout", April 2006.
• The Independent, 27 April 2005, "Amazon Pollution: Victims of 'Toxico'"
• Website critical of Chevron's activities in Ecuador
• "US: Chevron donates to Schwarzenegger, gets removal of restrictions on oil refineries in California"
• Nigeria - Human Rights Concerns Amnesty USA website
• Goodman, Amy, Scahill, Jeremy. "Drilling and Killing." The Nation (Nov 16, 1998): 6(1).
• Clean Up Ecuador Campaign [5]
• Free Documentary Film 'Justicia Now!' (www.JusticiaNow.org)

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Credits

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