Chevron

The oldest predecessor, the Pacific Coast Oil Company , was founded in 1879 by Frederick Tyler in the town of Pico Well, near which he managed to find oil. Tyler also managed to master the processing of heavy California oil into kerosene , for which an oil refinery (refinery) was built near San Francisco . Its petroleum products were sold by the Standard Oil Company of Iowa, part of the Standard Oil Trust in Iowa . In 1900, a California company was bought by a trust for $ 761 thousand. For Standard Oil, California was of interest not only as a source of raw materials and a market, but also as a port for entering the Asian market. Soon, the state’s largest oil refinery in Point Richmond was built and the network of oil pipelines connecting it to the fields, oil production grew 20 times over 10 years, reaching 2.6 million barrels in 1911. In 1906, Pacific Coast and Iowa Standard were merged into one company Standard Oil Company (California), or Socal for short, the capitalization of the new company was increased from $ 1 million to $ 25 million, another refinery was built in El Segundo near Los Angeles , making the company a leader in the state in the production of kerosene, 80 percent of which was exported to Asia. Like the other components of the Standard Oil trust, the California company was focused on refining and selling petroleum products: it produced only 2.3% of the state’s oil, processed 20% of the oil produced in California (by purchasing the missing from Union Oil) and controlled 95% of the sales of kerosene and 85% of other petroleum products in the states of California, Arizona , Nevada , Oregon , Washington , Hawaii and Alaska ^[3] .

In 1911, the Standard Oil trust was divided into 34 independent companies, one of which was Standard Oil Company (California). Having become independent, the company changed its strategy by starting to increase oil production , by 1919 it accounted for 26% of all oil produced in the United States. Oil searches in other countries were insignificant and unsuccessful. The situation changed in 1928 when the company acquired a concession for oil production from Gulf Oil in Bahrain , a small group of islands in the Persian Gulf . In 1933, the company bought oil production rights in Saudi Arabia for £ 5,000 a year and a one-time loan of £ 50,000. Soon, however, it became clear that the oil reserves in these countries far exceeded the company’s development potential, and in 1936 50% of the rights were sold to the Texas Company (Texas Company, later Texaco ). Oil production in Saudi Arabia began in 1939, in the same year the concession area was increased to 440 thousand square miles (1.14 million km²). After the Second World War, it became clear that even both companies would not have enough opportunities to develop such huge reserves, and 40% of the newly created joint venture Aramco (Arabian-American company) was sold to other oil companies, Socal and Texas Company left 30% each. In 1948, Standard Oil Company (California) discovered the largest oil field in the world Al Gawar ^[4] . By the mid-1950s, Saudi Arabia accounted for a third of production and two-thirds of Socal’s reserves, although the company also began oil production in Venezuela and Sumatra , and large fields were discovered in Texas and Louisiana . To process the increased volume of raw materials, another refinery was built in California and one in Utah . The company remained the leader in the sale of petroleum products in California, was also represented in another 15 western states, and an excess of cheap Middle Eastern oil contributed to the expansion of activities in Asia and Europe; at the beginning of the 1970s, 20% of the company's $ 4 billion in revenue was in the Far East , primarily Japan , in Europe the company had 8 thousand gas stations ^[3] .

The oil crisis of 1973 significantly complicated the work of Socal, since Arabian oil rose four times at once and the company (at least formally) lost control over it in favor of the Saudi government. After a decade of downsizing and largely unsuccessful attempts to expand its business to related industries, the company acquired in 1984 a roughly equal oil reserves of its competitor, Gulf Oil, and therefore changed its name to Chevron Corporation (the name Chevron has been used for several decades for sale petroleum products outside of California). This purchase, worth $ 13.2 billion (the largest at that time), made Chevron the owner of the largest network of gas stations in the United States and for a short time the second largest oil company in the country. However, the time to buy was not chosen well, after the peak of the price in the early 1980s, oil began to fall in price, thus Chevron acquired a 12-billion debt amid falling sales; Gulf assets in Canada and part of a network of gas stations were sold, 16 thousand employees were reduced ^[3] .

In 1993, Chevron reached an agreement with the government of Kazakhstan to begin development of the Tengiz field . In 1995, a refinery was sold in Port Arthur (Texas), in general, the company's share in oil refining in the USA for the first half of the 1990s decreased from 10.2% to 7.5% ^[3] .

In 2001, Chevron Corporation acquired Texaco for $ 45 billion, with the result that the name was changed to ChevronTexaco ^[5] . In 2005, another oil company, was bought for $ 18.4 billion, and therefore the company name again became Chevron Corporation ^[6] . In 2006, the corporation, together with the National Laboratory in Los Alamos, began to develop an improved technology for the production of shale oil ^[7] . In 2011, Pennsylvania-based company, was bought for $ 3.2 billion ^[8] .

The Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Chevron since February 1, 2018 is Michael Wirth. In the company from 1982, from 2003 to 2006, he was president of the supply and trade department, from 2006 to 2015 he was vice-president of the oil refining and petrochemicals division, from 2017 to 2018 he was vice-chairman ^[9] .

The company's proven reserves at the end of 2018 amounted to 12.1 billion barrels in oil equivalent , of which 6.118 billion barrels of oil (834 million tons), natural gas - 894 billion cubic meters ^[1] .

The average production level in 2018 was 2.483 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (2.93 million barrels, taking into account the share in other companies). Oil and gas condensate production amounted to 1.443 million barrels, natural gas - 177 million cubic meters (taking into account the share of 1.782 million barrels of oil and 195 million cubic meters of gas). The leading countries in terms of production were: USA (791 thousand barrels), Australia (426 thousand), Kazakhstan (399 thousand), Nigeria (239 thousand), Thailand (236 thousand), Indonesia (132 thousand), Canada (116 thousand), Bangladesh (112 thousand), Angola (108 thousand), Great Britain (65 thousand), Congo (52 thousand) ^[1] .

The company owns four refineries in the United States (2 in California , one each in the Mississippi and Utah ) and one in Thailand , as well as shares in three other refineries in Singapore , the Republic of Korea and Thailand. The total capacity of the refinery in 2018 was 1.627 million barrels per day ^[1] . The company is also the operator of the Escravos GTL Synthetic Liquid Fuels (SLF) plant in Nigeria ^[10] .

The volume of oil products sales in 2018 amounted to 2.655 million barrels per day, of which 1.218 million barrels in the United States. The group owns an extensive network of gas stations around the world under the trademarks Chevron, Texaco and Caltex. 7900 Chevron and Texaco gas stations operate in the USA, mainly in the south and west of the country, of which 310 are owned by the company, the rest are franchised. In other countries, about 5,000 gas stations operate under the company's trademarks; Chevron supplies aviation fuel to 90 airports around the world. Lubricants and coolants are sold under the trademarks Havoline, Delo, Ursa, Meropa, Rando, Clarity and Taro ^[1] .

Chevron is a co-owner (50%) of one of the leading US petrochemical companies, the Chevron Phillips Chemical Company, which has 28 plants and 2 research centers ^[11] .

America

In the United States, oil and gas are produced in the mid-continental region, the Gulf of Mexico , California and the Appalachian basin. The mid-continental region includes the states of Colorado , New Mexico and Texas , here in 2018, an average of 198 thousand barrels of oil and 18 million cubic meters of gas were produced per day. In addition, shale gas and oil are being extracted in Texas and New Mexico; production is at the level of 159 thousand barrels of oil and 14 million cubic meters of gas. Production in the Gulf of Mexico in 2018 amounted to 200 thousand barrels of oil and gas condensate and 3 million cubic meters of natural gas; the company owns shares in the fields of Bakskin (55%), Jack (50%), St. Malo (51%), Tahiti (58%), Ankor (55-61.3%), Ballymore (60%), Perdido (40 %). In California, production in the San Joaquin Valley was 138 thousand barrels of oil and 700 thousand cubic meters of gas. The Appalachian shale gas basin is located in the states of Pennsylvania , West Virginia and Ohio , the production level was 6.8 million cubic meters ^[1] .

The production level in Canada is 116 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day, of which 50 thousand barrels of oil, 2 million cubic meters of gas and 53 thousand barrels of synthetic oil from tar sands , the main deposits are in the provinces of Alberta and British Columbia , as well as in the Atlantic Ocean in the territorial waters of Canada ^[1] .

Activities in Argentina are focused on the Waka-Muerta shale gas and oil field and are mainly at the stage of geological exploration and reserve estimation, the level of production in 2018 was 24 thousand barrels of oil and 680 thousand cubic meters of gas ^[1] .

Chevron is involved in oil production in Venezuela (44 thousand barrels per day) and Brazil (11 thousand barrels), as well as gas in Colombia (2.3 million cubic meters per day) ^[1] .

Offshore oil and gas is being produced in Angola (in 2018, 107 thousand barrels of oil and 8.7 million cubic meters of gas per day). In this country, Chevron owns a 36.4 percent stake in Angola LNG Limited, which operates a gas liquefaction plant with a capacity of 31 million cubic meters per day ^[1] .

In Nigeria, the company owns a 40 percent stake in 8 concessions on the mainland and on the shelf ( Niger Delta ); the average level of production in 2018 was 200 thousand barrels of oil and condensate and 6.3 million cubic meters of natural gas ^[1] .

The company is also represented in the Congo (49 thousand barrels of oil), the Democratic Republic of the Congo , Liberia and Morocco ^[1] .

Asia

In Kazakhstan, Chevron owns 50% of the Tengizchevroil company, which is developing the Tengiz and Korolev fields, as well as 18% of the Karachaganak field; the average level of production in 2018 was 399 thousand barrels of oil equivalent (315 barrels of oil and 14.4 million cubic meters of gas) ^[1] .

In Azerbaijan, the company owns a 9.6-percent share in the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli field , the production level is about 20 thousand barrels per day ^[1] .

In Thailand, the company produces oil and gas in the Gulf of Thailand (236 thousand barrels per day, of which 66 thousand barrels of oil and 28 million cubic meters of gas) ^[1] .

Production in Indonesia is conducted on the island of Sumatra and off the coast of the island of Kalimantan (132 thousand barrels per day, of which 113 thousand barrels of oil and 3.2 million cubic meters of gas) ^[1] .

From other Asian countries, gas is produced in Bangladesh (18.3 million cubic meters), Myanmar (2.8 million cubic meters), China (5.2 million cubic meters), Philippines (3.9 million cubic meters) ^[1] .

Australia

Chevron's share in oil production in Australia in 2018 was 42 thousand barrels per day, natural gas - 65 million cubic meters. Activities are mainly concentrated off the west coast (share in the Northwest Shelf project). The company also owns shares in two large plants for the production of liquefied gas, Gorgon and Whitstone ^[1] .

Europe

The activities of the oil and gas production unit in Europe are limited to the North Sea in the territorial waters of Great Britain (65 thousand barrels per day, of which oil - 43 thousand barrels, gas - 3.2 million cubic meters) ^[1] .

Chevron in Russia

According to the Vedomosti newspaper, in the summer of 2003 the company was negotiating with Mikhail Khodorkovsky on the purchase of a blocking stake in the combined Yukos-Sibneft. The deal, however, did not take place - just as the merger did not take place. Mikhail Khodorkovsky was arrested and convicted, and Yukos, after presenting billions in claims on tax arrears, was declared bankrupt. Sibneft shareholders terminated the deal with Yukos and sold the company to Gazprom (see Gazprom Neft ).

On November 14, 2006, in Noyabrsk ( Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug ), a joint venture with Gazprom Neft was registered - LLC Northern Taiga Neftegaz (exploration drilling is underway at a number of sites in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Area ).

In December 2009, the representative office of Chevron Lubricants CIS was liquidated; oil products are currently distributed through a system of independent distributors. The interests of the company in Russia are represented by Chevron Neftegaz LLC.

In the summer of 2010, Chevron signed an agreement with Rosneft on the development of the Val Shatsky subsoil plot offshore in the Black Sea. According to Kommersant, under the terms of the agreement, the financing of the initial stage of exploration was to be taken over by Chevron. A Kommersant source familiar with the situation said that the investment would amount to $ 100 million. Until 2014, it was planned to drill two wells (in the Novorossiysk region on the North Black Sea structure and in the Tuapse region on the Maria structure), drilling was planned to begin at the end of 2011 ^{[ 15]} . As a result, the project did not take place, according to Vedomosti, having drilled an unsuccessful well off the coast of Turkey, Chevron considered that Shatsky Val has a similar geological structure, and in 2011 left the project ^[16] .

Alternative Energy

Chevron's alternative energy includes projects in geothermal, solar, wind, bio and hydro energy ^[17] .

In October 2011, the company put into operation STES Coaling , with a capacity of 29 MW ^[18] .

Pollution in Richmond, California

Chevron's operations at its centennial refinery have been a subject of ongoing debate. The plant produced over 11 million pounds of toxic materials and led to more than 304 accidents ^[19] . In 1998, the plant paid $ 540 thousand for illegal dumping of waste into the water and for not informing the public about toxic emissions ^[20] . Chevron is considered potentially responsible for 95 contaminated sites in America, based on funds allocated by the US Environmental Protection Agency for cleaning ^[21] .

Ecological pollution in Ecuador

Texaco and Gulf Oil worked in Ecuador from 1964, in particular Texaco developed the Lago-Agrio field from 1972 to 1993 (then it was transferred to the State Oil Company of Ecuador). In 1993, Texaco was accused of dumping thousands of tons of toxic waste into the Amazonian forest region. The company spent $ 40 million on cleaning work, and in 1998, the Ecuadorian government recognized these measures as sufficient and relieved the company. However, water and soil samples taken by scientists in the same year showed dangerous levels of hydrocarbons in half of the samples. In 2003, local residents filed a lawsuit against Chevron in an Ecuadorian court in the amount of $ 28 billion. In 2011, the court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in the amount of $ 8.6 billion; plaintiffs appealed, and the Supreme Court of Ecuador raised the amount of foreclosure from the company to $ 19 billion ^[22] . Chevron called the decision extortion and refused to pay. In November 2013, the International Arbitration Tribunal decided in favor of Chevron, relieving the company of pollution liability ^[23] . In March 2014, the US District Court ruled that the plaintiff’s lawyer used coercion and bribery to obtain a 2011 decision, and although the court was not competent to review the decision of the Ecuadorian court, its decision made it virtually impossible to recover the amount from the company in the USA ^{[24 ]} . In September 2018, the International Tribunal made another decision in favor of Chevron, claiming that Ecuador violates international agreements ^[25] . Chevron continues to process oil from Amazon; in particular, for 2015, the El Segundo Refinery processed 54,463 barrels of Amazonian oil per day ^[26] .

Angola Oil Spill

Chevron’s activities in Africa have also been criticized as environmentally unsafe. ^[27] In 2002, Angola became the first country in Africa to ever levy fines on a large multinational corporation operating in the country. Angola claimed $ 2 million in compensation for oil spills, which Chevron allegedly blamed ^[28] .

U.S. Clean Air Act Violation

October 16, 2003 Chevron was accused of violating the Clean Air Act, which will reduce harmful emissions into the atmosphere by about 10 thousand tons per year ^[29] . In San Francisco, a court ordered Chevron to spend nearly $ 275 million on the installation and use of innovative technologies to reduce nitrogen and sulfur dioxide emissions from the company's refineries ^[30] . In 2000, after violating the Clean Air Act at an autonomous loading terminal in El Segundo, California, Chevron paid a fine of $ 6 million, as well as $ 1 million for environmental projects ^[31] . Chevron has also implemented programs that reduce the emission of hazardous gases, updated the leak detection and repair system, reduced emissions from sulfur recovery plants, and adopted strategies to ensure the proper handling of hazardous benzene wastes at its facilities ^[29] . Chevron also spent about $ 500,000 on sealed valves and double-seal pumps at the El Segundo refinery, which could prevent significant emissions of air pollutants ^[31] .

Chevron advocates draw attention to these changes in the corporation’s policy, in particular its promise in 2004 to fight global warming ^[32] .

Niger Delta Shooting

On May 28, 1998, activists staged a demonstration and took several people hostage on the company's oil platform in the Niger Delta in Nigeria . According to unverified reports, Nigerian police and soldiers flew in Chevron helicopters. The soldiers fired at the activists, and subsequently two activists (Jola Ogungbeje and Aroleka Irowaninu) died of wounds ^[33] . In 2007, U.S. District Judge Susan Ilston launched a lawsuit in a lawsuit against Chevron from victims and families of victims, as there may be evidence that Chevron hired, supervised, and / or provided transportation to the Nigerian armed forces known for their use of violence ^{[34 ]} . In December 2008, a federal jury dropped all charges against Chevron. Chevron argued that military intervention was necessary to protect the lives of its workers and considers the jury's decision to be evidence of this ^[35] .

UN Sanctions

The US Embassy’s dispatch BAGHDAD 000791 reports on the company's talks on re-investment in Iran, bypassing UN sanctions ^[36] . This document was classified until 2029 ^[37] .

Oil spill off the coast of Rio de Janeiro

On November 8, 2011, Brazilian authorities indicted Chevron for spilling crude oil off the country's southern coast ^[38] . Brazilian experts said that 416,400 liters of oil leaked over two weeks through submarine rocks at a Frade project well, 370 km from the Brazilian coast ^[39] . Brazilian prosecutors filed a lawsuit for $ 10.6 billion. The National Oil Agency suspended Chevron in Brazil until it determines the cause of the oil spill off the coast of Rio de Janeiro ^[40] .

Gas exploration in Romania

In October 2013, Chevron suspended its plans to drill in the town of Pungeşti of Vaslui , whose residents were opposed to shale gas exploration due to fears of groundwater pollution. Thousands of people joined the protests throughout Romania , and in December the protests grew into riots when Chevron announced plans to resume intelligence. After the incident, Chevron stated that it was again suspending its activities in this area ^{[41] [42] [43]} .

Argentine Agreement, repression of conservationists, workers and Indians

Following the decision of the Argentine government in 2012 to regain control of the country's largest oil company, YPF , a search began for foreign investors to extract unconventional oil. Finally, in 2013, YPF and Chevron signed an agreement on the Vaca Muerta oil field, the world's second largest shale gas reserve. In August 2013, the Neuquin Provincial Congress voted in favor of this agreement. The government brutally suppressed a major peaceful protest in which between 5,000 ^[44] to 10,000 ^[45] workers, students, and Indians participated, and finally, the bill was approved. The police fired plastic and live ammunition ^[46] .

At the beginning of 2019, Chevron Corporation issued 1.9 billion shares, their total value ( market capitalization of the corporation) was $ 221.8 billion. Institutional investors owned 66.38% of the shares, the largest of them ^[47] :

• The Vanguard Group, Inc. - 8.1%;
• BlackRock, Inc. - 6.7%;
• State Street Corporation - 6.0%;
• Wellington Management Group - 2.2%;
• FMR LLC - 1.6%;
• Capital International Investors - 1.4%;
• Northern Trust - 1.4%;
• Geode Capital Management, LLC - 1.3%;
• Bank of America Corporation - 1.2%;
• Capital World Investors - 1.1%;
• JPMorgan Chase & Co - 1.1%;
• Bank of New York Mellon Corporation - 1.1%;
• Norges Bank - 1.0%;
• Morgan Stanley - 0.9%;
• State Farm Mutual Automobil Insurance Company - 0.9%.

The main subsidiaries at the end of 2018, located at the places of registration; Companies operating in some countries are registered in offshore areas , such as Delaware, Bahamas and Bermuda ^[48] :

•   USA :
  • Delaware : Chevron Global Energy Inc .; Chevron Global Technology Services Company; Chevron Investments Inc .; Chevron Malampaya LLC; Chevron Overseas Company; Chevron (Overseas) Holdings Limited; Chevron Thailand LLC; Chevron USA Holdings Inc .; Chevron USA Inc .; Chevron Venezuela Holdings LLC; Saudi Arabian Chevron Inc .; Texaco Inc .; Texaco Overseas Holdings Inc .; Texaco Venezuela Holdings (I) Company; Unocal corporation
  • California : Union Oil Company of California
  • Nevada : Unocal International Corporation
  • New Jersey : Chevron Petroleum Company
•   Australia : Chevron Australia Pty Ltd .; Chevron Australia Holdings Pty Ltd.
•   Argentina : Chevron Argentina SRL
•   Bahamas : Chevron Overseas Petroleum Limited; Chevron (Thailand) Limited
•   Bermuda : Cabinda Gulf Oil Company Limited; Chevron LNG Shipping Company Limited; Chevron Petroleum Limited; Chevron Thailand Exploration and Production, Ltd.
•   United Kingdom : Chevron North Sea Limited
•   Indonesia : PT Chevron Pacific Indonesia
•   Canada : Chevron Canada Limited
•   Nigeria : Chevron Nigeria Limited; Chevron Petroleum Nigeria Limited
•   Thailand : Star Petroleum Refining Public Company Limited
•   Philippines : Chevron Philippines Inc.

• Chevron official website
• Chevron Corporation on the Securities and Exchange Commission website
• Chevron authorized distributor in Russia - Techstroycontract Company