Chevron Corporation

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Chevron Corporation
Type Public (NYSE: CVX)
Founded 1879 (Pico Canyon, California)
Headquarters San Ramon, California,
USA Flag of United States
Key people David J. O'Reilly, CEO & Chairman
Steve Crowe, CFO
Industry Oil and Gasoline
Products Petrochemical
Revenue $204.892 Billion USD (2006)[1]
Operating income $31.976 Billion USD (2006)
Net income $17.138 Billion USD (2006)
Employees 59,000 (2006)
Website www.chevron.com

Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX) is one of the world's largest global energy companies. 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.

Chevron was originally known as Standard Oil of California, or Socal, and was formed amid the antitrust breakup of Standard Oil 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 finally occurred in 1938 when the largest oil field on earth was discovered. 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 Chevron and Gulf Oil became the largest merger in world history at the time. Because of its size, Gulf divested many of its worldwide operating subsidiaries and sold some Gulf stations and a refinery in the eastern United States to satisfy US antitrust requirements. In 2001, the former Chevron corporation merged with Texaco to form ChevronTexaco. On May 9, 2005, ChevronTexaco announced it would drop the Texaco moniker and return to the Chevron name. Texaco will remain as a brand under the Chevron Corporation. On August 19, 2005, Chevron merged with the Unocal Corporation, a move which, because of Unocal's large South East Asian geothermal operations, made Chevron the largest producer of geothermal energy in the world. [1]

Contents

Entrance driveway of Chevron's headquarters complex in San Ramon, California
Entrance driveway of Chevron's headquarters complex in San Ramon, California

Chevron employs approximately 59,000 people worldwide 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.

The company marked its 125th anniversary in 2004, tracing its roots to an oil discovery at Pico Canyon, north of Los Angeles. This find led to the formation, in 1879, of the Pacific Coast Oil Company, the 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 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. [2] Its original headquarters were at 200 Bush St., built in 1912. [3]

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

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. [4] 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.

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. Additionally, the company is investing in the field of nanotechnology, evaluating a new class of molecular building blocks that potentially may be useful in many industries.

The typical Chevron gas station design that was used until 2006.
The typical Chevron gas station design that was used until 2006.
In 2006, Chevron began phasing in this gas station design.
In 2006, Chevron began phasing in this gas station design.

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

  • 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)

As of April 2007 [5]:

Former members of the board of directors: Condoleezza Rice.

David J. O'Reilly

Peter Robertson

John Gass

Main article: Criticism of the petroleum industry

Companies in the petroleum-based energy industry generally draw a wide range of criticism, and are often referred to as Big Oil. Because of the inelasticity of the demand of petroleum and the high risk nature of operations abroad, the companies involved in the industry have generally fallen into a large role in influencing economic and foreign policies in nations across the globe.

Some criticism is directed at the industry in general, in that the burning of fossil fuels contributes to air pollution and global warming, and that extractive operations spoil natural landscapes. Large energy companies are often suspected of resisting alternative energy, for example buying patents to new technological advances to stop more energy efficient modes of transport.

Chevron has been accused of not fulfilling its communal responsibility in Cabinda. Chevron's employees work in isolation in the Malongo terminal, which is protected by barbed wire fence and guarded gates because of security concerns. There is no interaction with the local people and the local market, because water, groceries and other commodities are imported duty free from overseas. In a survey Cabindans expressed their concern that the multibillion oil industy hasn't improved their daily lives.[6]

  • Human Rights Campaign Foundation, One of 101 perfect score firms on Human Rights Campaign Foundation's (an organization working to achieve gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality) 4th annual report card[7]

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