As part of our 'at-a-glance' guide to company global upstream operational activity, we feature Chevron.

Chevron Corp. ranks among the world's largest and most competitive global energy companies. Headquartered in San Francisco, it is engaged in every aspect of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production; refining, marketing and transportation; chemicals manufacturing and sales; and power generation.

Worldwide, Chevron is the fourth largest publicly traded company in terms of oil and gas reserves and is the fourth largest producer.

Company Roots

The company trace their beginnings to an 1879 oil discovery at Pico Canyon, north of Los Angeles, which led to the formation of the Pacific Coast Oil Co. That company later became Standard Oil Co. of California and, subsequently, Chevron. The Group took on the name Chevron when they acquired Gulf Oil Corp. in 1984, nearly doubling worldwide proved oil and gas reserves. This merger with Gulf was at that time the largest in U.S. history.

Another major branch of the family tree is The Texas Fuel Company, formed in Beaumont, Texas, in 1901. It later became known as The Texas Company and eventually Texaco. In 2001, the two companies merged. The acquisition of Unocal Corporation in 2005 strengthened Chevron's position as an energy industry leader, increasing their crude oil and natural gas assets around the world.

Production

Worldwide net oil-equivalent production grew in 2021 to a record 3.10 million barrels per day. The company also added 1.3 billion barrels of net oil-equivalent proved reserves in 2021. These additions equate to approximately 112 percent of net oil equivalent production for the year.

U.S. upstream net oil-equivalent production of 1.22 million barrels per day in fourth quarter 2021 was up 21,000 barrels per day from a year earlier. The increase was due to net production increases in the Permian Basin and the absence of Gulf of Mexico weather effects, partially offset by a 48,000 barrel per day decrease related to the Appalachian asset sale. The net liquids component of oil-equivalent production in fourth quarter 2021 increased 6 percent to 929,000 barrels per day, and net natural gas production decreased 9 percent to 1.73 billion cubic feet per day, compared to last year’s fourth quarter.

International net oil-equivalent production of 1.90 million barrels per day in fourth quarter 2021 was down 181,000 barrels per day from fourth quarter 2020. The decrease was primarily due to the absence of 186,000 barrels per day following expiration of the Rokan concession in Indonesia and unfavorable entitlement effects, partially offset by lower production curtailments. The net liquids component of oil-equivalent production decreased 18 percent to 899,000 barrels per day in fourth quarter 2021, while net natural gas production of 6.01 billion cubic feet per day increased 2 percent, compared to last year's fourth quarter.

Global operations

ANGOLA

Chevron has been in Angola since the 1930s, when Texaco products were first marketed there.

Through their wholly owned subsidiary, Cabinda Gulf Oil Company Limited (CABGOC), the company have an operated interest in two concessions: Block 0, off the coast of Cabinda province, Block 14, in deep water and Block 34, located offshore the Lower Congo basin. Chevron also have a non-operated interest in an onshore joint venture, Angola LNG Limited, a 5.2 million-metric-ton-per-year plant in Soyo.

ARGENTINA

Chevron produces crude oil and natural gas in Argentina through our wholly owned subsidiary Chevron Argentina S.R.L.

Chevron Argentina S.R.L. have concessions in the Neuquén Basin. Expanded waterflood operations are sustaining oil output at the El Trapial Field, and the company is exploring for unconventional oil and gas resources in the Vaca Muerta Shale.

In 2014, Chevron announced agreements to continue development, through another subsidiary, of shale oil and gas resources at the Loma Campana Field in the Vaca Muerta formation in Neuquén province. Also in 2014, Chevron affiliates signed agreements to join an exploration project for shale oil in the Narambuena Block in the Chihuido de la Sierra Negra concession, which is also in the Vaca Muerta Shale. Both are operated by YPF, an Argentine energy company.

AUSTRALIA

Chevron Australia operates the Gorgon and Wheatstone natural gas facilities; manages its equal one-sixth interest in the North West Shelf Venture; operates Australia’s largest onshore oilfield on Barrow Island; and is a significant investor in exploration.

BANGLADESH

Through Chevron’s subsidiaries in Bangladesh, the company operates three fields in the northeast of the country; Bibiyana, Jalalabad and Moulavi Bazar. Chevron is the largest producer of natural gas, accounting for over 55% of total domestic natural gas production. The company's facilities also produce about 85% of the domestic condensate production.

BRAZIL

Chevron has held interests in 11 deep water projects in Brazil's Campos and Santos basins since 2018.

The company has interests in two deepwater exploration projects in Brazil’s Campos Basin - the operated Frade project and the non-operated Papa-Terra project. Since 2009, Chevron has invested significant time and resources developing the Frade Field. In 2015, the company continued development of their Papa-Terra project, which is expected to be one of the company's largest investments in Brazil. Chevron also have an interest in the deepwater Block CE-M715 in the Ceara Basin, offshore equatorial Brazil.

CANADA

Since 1938, Chevron Canada has been exploring for, developing, producing and marketing crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids. Headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Chevron Canada has interests in oil sands projects and liquids-rich shale gas acreage in Alberta and shale acreage in British Columbia

CANADA EAST COAST

Chevron Canada has been exploring for new sources of energy offshore Atlantic Canada for more than 40 years. In 1979, the company discovered the Hibernia Field. This major discovery was the catalyst that launched Newfoundland and Labrador’s offshore energy industry.

Hibernia
Chevron Canada holds a 26.9 percent nonoperated working interest in the Hibernia Field that comprises two key reservoirs, Hibernia and Ben Nevis Avalon (BNA). Chevron Canada also has a 23.7 percent nonoperated working interest in the unitized Hibernia Southern Extension (HSE) areas of the Hibernia Field, which have been developed with subsea tiebacks to the Hibernia Platform.

Hebron
Chevron Canada holds a 29.6 percent nonoperated working interest in the Hebron Field, which includes a concrete, gravity-based platform with a design capacity of 150,000 barrels of crude oil per day. Following eight years of project engineering and construction, crude oil production was initiated at the Hebron Field in November 2017. The operator has estimated the field will produce more than 700 million barrels of oil over its anticipated 30-year economic lifespan.

Flemish Pass Basin
In the Flemish Pass Basin offshore Newfoundland and Labrador, Chevron Canada is conducting an active program on one exploration block.

Chevron Canada has a 50 percent-owned and operated interest in Flemish Pass Basin Block EL 1138, comprising approximately 339,000 net acres (1,374 sq km). In 2018, Chevron Canada relinquished its interest in blocks EL 1125 and EL 1126. The block is located approximately 400 km east of St. John’s, NL.

CHINA

Chevron has operations in China through their subsidiaries Unocal East China Sea, Ltd., and Chevron China Energy Company. The range of businesses includes petroleum and natural gas exploration and production and fuels and lubricants marketing. In addition, the company contribute to the development of people and technology.

Chevron has a production-sharing contract (PSC) with China National Petroleum Corporation for the joint development of the Chuandongbei natural gas area in the Sichuan Basin in southwestern China. Chevron also works with partners to develop offshore energy resources in the South China Sea and in Bohai Bay.

COLOMBIA

As a result of Chevron’s acquisition of Noble Energy in October 2020, two exploration plays in Colombia were added to Chevron’s portfolio.
Chevron has a 40 percent-owned and operated working interest in Colombia-3 and Guajira Offshore-3 blocks located off Barranquilla and Santa Marta’s shores, covering more than 800,000 net acres (3,237 sq km). Exploration activities continued in 2020.

In April 2020, the company completed the sale of its interests in the offshore Chuchupa and onshore Ballena natural gas fields.

EGYPT

In December 2019, Chevron and Shell were awarded oil and gas exploration concessions in Egypt's first ever Red Sea licensing round.

Chevron was awarded Block 1 and Shell Block 2, while Block 4 was awarded jointly to Shell and the UAE's Mubadala Petroleum.

The three blocks cover a total exploration area of around 10,000 sq km and carry combined minimum investment commitments of $326 million, the petroleum ministry said, adding that potential investment would rise to "several billion dollars" if discoveries were made.

INDONESIA

Through their wholly owned subsidiariy, PT. Chevron Pacific Indonesia (PT CPI), Chevron are one of the largest producers of Indonesia’s crude oil. The company operate in partnership with the Government of Indonesia through production sharing contracts (PSCs) with the Special Task Force for Upstream Oil and Gas Business Activities (SKK Migas).

Chevron’s operated interests in Indonesia include one onshore PSC on the island of Sumatra and three PSCs offshore eastern Kalimantan.

In Kalimantan, Chevron subsidiaries operates interest offshore in eastern Kalimantan includes three PSCs, namely Makassar Strait PSC (72 percent), Rapak PSC (62 percent), and Ganal PSC (62 percent).

Geothermal
Two Chevron subsidiaries operate geothermal projects on the island of Java. Chevron Geothermal Indonesia, Ltd., manages the Darajat project, and Chevron Geothermal Salak, Ltd., operates the Salak project. The Darajat project supplies geothermal steam to a plant that generates 270 megawatts of electricity. All power from the Darajat site is sold directly to the national grid. Chevron holds a 95 percent operating interest in Darajat.

Chevron owns the Salak project, one of the largest geothermal operations in the world. The field supplies steam to a six-unit power plant - three of which are company owned - with a total operating capacity of 377 megawatts.

The company's Darajat and Salak geothermal operations combined now produce sufficient renewable energy to supply approximately 3 million homes in Indonesia.

IRAQ

Chevron is operating in the northeastern autonomous region within Iraq, known as the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI). The company currently has interests in the Sarta and Qara Dagh blocks.

Chevron operates and has an 80 percent interest in the Sarta production-sharing contract (PSC) and the Qara Dagh PSC. The two blocks cover a combined area of 279,000 net acres (1,129 sq km).

The complex geology in the KRI required new state-of-the-art technology. Chevron used managed pressure drilling equipment and a new formation testing tool to successfully drill two exploration wells in the challenging environment. 

Chevron is operating in the northeastern autonomous region, known as the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI). The company currently has interests in the Sarta and Qara Dagh blocks.

KUWAIT

Chevron's operations in Kuwait are in the onshore Partitioned Zone (PZ), an area between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Joint Operations – staffed and funded equally by Saudi Arabian Chevron Inc. and the Kuwait Gulf Oil Co. – explores for and produces crude oil and natural gas in the onshore PZ. The production from these operations is shared equally between both countries.

Globally, Chevron and Kuwait are important strategic trading and investment partners. For example, Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company is a partner in the Chevron-led Wheatstone natural gas project in Australia and the Duvernay Shale in Canada.

MEXICO

In December 2016, an international consortium operated by Chevron Corporation’s subsidiary, Chevron Energía de Mexico, S de R.L. de C.V., was awarded an exploration contract for Block 3 in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, one of the most significant opportunities in Mexico’s 1.4 bid round. Other partners in the bidding consortium are Pemex Exploration and Production and INPEX Corporation.

The acquisition of the block marked Chevron first successful entry into Mexico’s large prospective offshore opportunities.

Block 3, which spans approximately 651 square miles (1,687 square kilometers), is located in the Perdido Fold Belt, approximately 45 miles (117 kilometers) offshore Mexico in water depths ranging between 1,640 to 5,575 feet (500m to 1,700 meters). Chevron is the operator, holding a 33.3334 percent interest in the block while Pemex and Inpex each hold a 33.3333 percent interest.

CONGO DR

Chevron is engaged in the development and production of oil from Offshore D. R. Congo Block (the Block).

In December 2017, Chevron and its partners, Muanda International Oil Company Ltd. (MIOC) and INPEX, reached an agreement with the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to extend the duration of the concession agreement for the the Block for a period of 20 years from November 21, 2023 to November 21, 2043.

The producing oil fields of the Block are located off the western coast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the water’s depth is approximately 4~20 meters. Since production began in 1975, the Block has maintained a stable output for over 40 years.

Perenco operates the block through its subsidiary MIOC with a 50 percent stake. Inpex owns 32.28 percent, with Chevron holding the remaining 17.72 percent.

REPUBLIC OF CONGO

Chevron operates in the Republic of Congo through its subsidiary Chevron Overseas (Congo) Limited. The company support development of the country’s largest oil and gas project, which is in a prolific deepwater basin, and are involved in an offshore development in an area the nation shares with Angola.

Chevron has a 31.5 percent nonoperated working interest in the offshore Haute Mer permit areas (Nkossa, Nsoko and Moho Bilondo). In December 2019 the government approved a new permit for Nsoko and improved fiscal terms for Moho-Bilondo. In addition, Chevron is the operator of and holds a 31.3 percent interest in the Lianzi Unitization Zone, located in an area shared equally by Angola and the Republic of Congo. In 2020, operations had an average net daily production of 49,000 barrels of liquids.

Joint development area
The Lianzi Project, Chevron’s first operated asset in the Republic of Congo and the first cross-border oil development project offshore central Africa, includes production and water-injection wells with a subsea tieback to the Benguela Belize–Lobito Tomboco platform in Angola’s Block 14.

SURINAME

Staatsolie Maatschappij Suriname and Chevron Exploration Suriname Limited (Chevron) are expanding their cooperation in shallow offshore Suriname. A production sharing contract for offshore Block 7 was signed for this purpose on 26 April 2022.

With the signing of the Production Sharing Contract (PSC), Chevron, with an eighty percent participating interest, has obtained exploration, development, and production rights in Block 7. Staatsolie has a twenty percent participation share through its subsidiary Paradise Oil Company N.V. (POC). 

In October 2021, Staatsolie and Chevron signed a PSC for Block 5, in which Staatsolie has the right to a forty percent participation through its subsidiary Paradise Oil Company N.V. (POC). In December 2021, Chevron farmed-out one-third of its sixty percent stake in Block 5 to Shell (KE Suriname BV). POC retained its forty percent stake as a non-executive partner.

THAILAND

In 1962, Chevron was the first oil company awarded exploration rights in Thailand. Eleven years later, Chevron made the first discovery of hydrocarbons in the Gulf of Thailand, which led to a major natural gas development there later in the decade.

Chevron produces natural gas, condensate and crude oil for Thailand. All the natural gas produce is sold to PTT Public Company Limited (PTT), the national oil company of Thailand. Satisfying more than one-third of the country’s total gas demand, the natural gas produced by Chevron is primarily used to generate electricity. The remainder is used for industrial fuel, transportation fuel, cooking gas and petrochemical feedstock. The gas is transported via PTT's subsea pipelines to PTT’s gas separation plants in Rayong and Nakhon Si Thammarat.

Chevron Thailand Exploration and Production, Ltd. has operated in Thailand through affiliated companies including, Chevron Pattani Limited, Chevron Offshore (Thailand) Limited, Chevron Petroleum (Thailand) Limited and Chevron Thailand Holdings Limited. The company's head office is located in Bangkok and they also have offices in Songkhla, Chon Buri and Nakhon Si Thammarat. Chevron have approximately 1,500 employees (96% are Thai) and 1,100 contractors.

UK

Through their subsidiary Chevron Britain Limited, Chevron have a 19.4 percent non-operated working interest in the Clair Field and associated assets.

The Clair field lies 47 miles (75 km) west of the Shetland Islands in the North Sea and extends over an area of 85 square miles (220 square km) in water depths of approximately 460 feet (140 m). Discovered in 1977, across Blocks 206/7a, 206/8, 206/9, 206/12 and 206/13a. Clair is one of the United Kingdom’s largest hydrocarbon resources. Oil and gas are exported via pipelines to the Sullom Voe Terminal on the Shetland Islands.

The Clair field is being developed using a phased approach. Clair Phase 1 was sanctioned in 2001 and was developed with a single fixed platform with production and processing facilities. First production was achieved in February 2005.

The second phase of development, the $10 billion Clair Ridge project, is designed to have a capacity of 120,000 barrels of crude oil and 100 million cubic feet of natural gas per day. The project was sanctioned in 2011 and in 2016 the construction and installation of two new bridge-linked platforms was completed. First oil was achieved in November 2018.

Proved reserves have been recognised for the Clair Ridge project which is estimated to produce over 600 million barrels and has an estimated production life extending beyond 2050. Net daily oil-equivalent production in 2020 averaged 14,000 barrels.

The Windermere and MacCulloch Fields, which Chevron acquired in the 2020 purchase of Noble Energy, Inc., are in decommissioning.

US GULF OF MEXICO

Chevron has a leading position in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, a focus area where they are delivering results from complex deepwater developments. There are a host of technical challenges associated with deepwater exploration, drilling and production.

With Jack/St. Malo, which began producing in late 2014, new technologies led to developing reservoirs once thought unreachable. Throughout the project’s development, Chevron implemented breakthrough technologies that did not exist when the oil fields were discovered in 2003 and 2004.

Today, much of the company's Gulf of Mexico deepwater production comes from the Jack/St. Malo, Tahiti, Blind Faith, Caesar/Tonga, Tubular Bells and Mad Dog fields and the Perdido Regional Development.

Big Foot
Big Foot is one of Chevron’s major capital projects in the deepwater U.S. Gulf of Mexico. The extended tension-leg platform is located 225 miles (360 km) south of New Orleans, Louisiana, in Walker Ridge 29 and rests in a water depth of approximately 5,200 feet (1,584 m). The platform supports an onboard, full-capacity drilling rig for development well drilling and future interventions, and its production wells will be equipped with electric submersible pumps at a depth of 16,000 feet (4,876 m). The production facilities are designed for a capacity of 75,000 barrels of oil and 25 million cubic feet of natural gas per day. The Big Foot Field is estimated to contain total recoverable resources in excess of 200 million oil-equivalent barrels.

Anchor project
In December 2019, Chevron sanctioned the Anchor project in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. This marks the industry’s first deepwater high-pressure development to achieve a final investment decision. Delivery of the new technology, which is capable of handling pressures of 20,000 psi, also enables access to other high-pressure resource opportunities across the Gulf of Mexico for Chevron and the industry.

The Anchor Field is located in the Green Canyon area, approximately 140 miles (225 km) off the coast of Louisiana, in water depths of approximately 5,000 feet (1,524 m). The initial development of the project will require an investment of approximately $5.7 billion. Stage 1 of the Anchor development consists of a seven-well subsea development and semi-submersible floating production unit. First oil is anticipated in 2024.

Puma West oil discovery
In April 2021, announced an oil discovery at the Puma West prospect in the deepwater U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

Ballymore
In May 2022, Chevron sanctioned the Ballymore project in the deepwater U.S. Gulf of Mexico. The project, with a design capacity of 75,000 barrels of crude oil per day, will be developed as a three-mile subsea tieback to the existing Chevron-operated Blind Faith platform.

US ONSHORE

For more than a century, Chevron has played a major role in helping meet North America’s energy needs – finding and producing crude oil and natural gas from beneath the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, from the tight rock of Pennsylvania, Texas and Alberta, and from the fields of central California. Each year, the company produce enough oil to fuel 10 million cars and enough natural gas to light 12 million households.

Many of Chevron's U.S. assets are reliable, steady producers of oil and natural gas that are a foundation of the company, who apply technology, such as enhanced recovery methods, to optimize production.

In the San Joaquin Valley of California, where heavy oil makes up about 86 percent of their production, Chevron use steam injection to make the oil flow more easily and to enable them to continue to recover these resources. Technical breakthroughs have enabled ongoing production from fields such as Kern River where oil has flowed since 1899. The company's renowned International Heavy Oil Center acts as a heavy oil training and technology transfer facility for employees and partners across the world.

Additional base business operations are active in Texas, New Mexico and Colorado.

VENEZUELA

Chevron has interests in Venezuelan crude oil production assets operated by independent equity affiliates. In January 2019, the United States government issued sanctions against the Venezuelan national oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PdVSA), which is the company’s partner in the equity affiliates. The equity affiliates continue to operate, and the company is conducting its business pursuant to general licenses issued coincident with the new sanctions.

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