Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX) is the world's fifth largest global 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.
Chevron 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 finally occurred in 1938
when the world's largest oil field 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 history.
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. As part of the merger, Socal rebranded to
become Chevron Corporation.
Founded 1879 (Pico Canyon, California)
Headquarters San Ramon, California,
Industry
Oil and Gasoline
Employees 62,000 (2006)
Website www.chevron.com |
