Overview
Having added Texaco's star (and subsequently Unocal's authority) to its stripes, Chevron (formerly ChevronTexaco) can pull rank on its rivals. The second-largest US integrated oil company (behind Exxon Mobil) has proved reserves of 10.8 billion barrels of oil equivalent and a daily production of 2.6 million barrels of oil equivalent, and it also owns interests in chemicals, pipelines, and power production businesses. The company, which is restructuring its refinery and retail businesses, owns or has stakes in 9,700 gas stations in the US which operate under the Chevron and Texaco brands. Outside the US it owns or has stakes in 15,400 gas stations, which also use the Caltex brand.
In 2005 Chevron acquired Unocal for $16.4 billion, boosting its proved reserves by about 15%. Equally attractive to Chevron was the strategic position of Unocal's operations; at a time when industries are trying to get a foothold in China, the reserves in Southeast Asia can easily be transported not only to China, but to a surging India as well. Unocal's other operations easily supplied the US (from the Gulf of Mexico) and Europe (Caspian Sea) with gas and oil. Chevron owns a 50% stake in chemicals producer Chevron Phillips Chemical, a joint venture with ConocoPhillips. In 2007 Chevron disposed of several noncore assets including its stake in power producer and marketer Dynegy.
Chevron bought a 5% stake in Indian refiner Reliance Petroleum for about $300 million in 2006. That year a company-led group of exploration firms announced a new successful oil strike in the Gulf of Mexico.
In 2007 BP acquired Chevron's 31% stake in a Netherlands-based refinery and other assets for $960 million. That year it also sold its fuels marketing business in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg to Delek Petroleum for $515 million.
The company announced plans in 2008 to begin construction on a $3.1 billion natural gas project in the Gulf of Thailand. The project has capacity to meet 14% of Thailand's natural gas needs.
In 2008 Ultrapar agreed to buy Chevron's Texaco-branded fuel distribution business in Brazil for $720 million.
Company History
Thirty years after the California gold rush, a small firm began digging for a new product -- oil. The crude came from wildcatter Frederick Taylor's well located north of Los Angeles. In 1879 Taylor and other oilmen formed Pacific Coast Oil, attracting the attention of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil. The two competed fiercely until Standard took over Pacific Coast in 1900.
When Standard Oil was broken up in 1911, its West Coast operations became the stand-alone Standard Oil Company (California), which was nicknamed Socal and sold Chevron-brand products. After winning drilling concessions in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia in the 1930s, Socal summoned Texaco to help, and they formed Caltex (California-Texas Oil Company) as equal partners. In 1948 Socony (later Mobil) and Jersey Standard (later Exxon) bought 40% of Caltex's Saudi operations, and the Saudi arm became Aramco (Arabian American Oil Company).
Socal exploration pushed into Louisiana and the Gulf of Mexico in the 1940s. In 1961 it bought Standard Oil Company of Kentucky (Kyso). The 1970s brought setbacks: Caltex holdings were nationalized during the OPEC-spawned upheaval, and the Saudi Arabian government claimed Aramco in 1980.
In 1984 Socal was renamed Chevron and doubled its reserves with its $13 billion purchase of Gulf Corp., which had origins in the 1901 Spindletop gusher in Texas. Gulf became an oil power by developing Kuwaiti concessions but was hobbled when those assets were nationalized in 1975. After Gulf was rocked by disclosures that it had an illegal political slush fund, Socal stepped in. The deal loaded the new company with debt, and it cut 20,000 jobs and sold billions in assets.
Chevron bought Tenneco's Gulf of Mexico properties in 1988 and in 1992 swapped fields valued at $1.1 billion for 15.7 million shares of Chevron stock owned by Pennzoil. It also moved into the North Sea in 1994.
In the 1990s Chevron gave its retailing units a tune-up. It allied with McDonald's (1995) to combine burger stands and gas stations in 12 western states. In addition, the company sold 450 UK gas stations and a refinery to Shell (1997). Meanwhile, Chevron sold its natural gas operation in 1996 for a stake in Houston-based NGC (later Dynegy; sold in 2007), and it signed an onshore exploration contract in China the next year.
Poor economic conditions in Asia and slumping oil prices in 1998 forced Chevron to shed some US holdings, including California properties. Looking for growth overseas, in 1999 it bought Rutherford-Moran Oil, increasing its interests in Thailand, and Petrolera Argentina San Jorge, Argentina's #3 oil company.
Chevron trimmed about 10% of its workforce in 1999 and 2000 in an effort to cut costs. As the rest of the industry consolidated, Chevron discussed merging with Texaco, but the talks collapsed in 1999. Later that year CEO Ken Derr retired, and vice chairman Dave O'Reilly replaced him.
In 2000 Chevron formed a joint venture with Phillips Petroleum (later ConocoPhillips) that combined the companies' chemicals businesses as Chevron Phillips Chemical. That year talks with Texaco were revived and Chevron agreed to acquire its Caltex partner for about $35 billion in stock and about $8 billion in assumed debt. The deal, completed in 2001, formed ChevronTexaco.
Part of the 2001 deal to acquire Texaco required Chevron to sell exclusive rights to the Texaco brand for a period of three years. A division of Royal Dutch Shell owned rights to the Texaco brand until 2004 and changed the name of the service stations to Shell. Once Chevron regained the rights to the Texaco name, it revitalized the brand name by adding about 400 Texaco stations in the western US.
In 2002 ChevronTexaco divested its stakes in US downstream joint ventures Equilon (to Shell) and Motiva (to Shell and Saudi Aramco). It also sold part of a Gulf of Mexico pipeline and two natural gas plants in Louisiana to Duke Energy, and its 12.5% stake in a natural gas liquids fractionator to Enterprise Products Partners. In 2004 ChevronTexaco sold 150 US natural gas and oil properties to XTO Energy for $912 million. The company changed its name to Chevron Corporation in 2005.
Employment
With over 150,000 employees, Chevron employs a wide range of jobs throughout the company. Most are full-time, salaried employees with a varied bonus structure depending upon the job. Below are Chevron salary details for common jobs:
- Chevron Petroleum Engineer salary - $114,300 (Average, USD)
- Chevron Geologist salary - $135,250 (Average, USD)
- Chevron Reservoir Engineer salary - $105,667 (Average, USD)
- Chevron Business Analyst salary - $80,250 (Average, USD)
- Chevron Mechanical Engineer salary - $82,080 (Average, USD)
