company mostly in americas . for similarly named companies see chevron . this article contains content that is written like an advertisement . please help improve it by removing promotional content and inappropriate external links and by adding encyclopedic content written from a neutral point of view . august 2016 learn how and when to remove this template message chevron corporation logo used since 2006 chevron s headquarters complex in san ramon california type public traded as nyse cvx dow jones industrial average component s & p 500 component industry oil and gas predecessor standard oil of california gulf oil 1 founded june 19 1879 as pacific coast oil company june 23 1984 as chevron corporation headquarters san ramon california u.s. area served worldwide key people john s. watson chairman & ceo products petroleum natural gas and other petrochemicals see chevron products revenue us 129.92 billion 2015 2 operating income us 0158 million 2015 2 net income us 04.58 billion 2015 2 total assets us 266.02 billion 2015 2 total equity us 155.02 billion 2015 2 number of employees 64 700 2015 2 subsidiaries texaco inc website chevron.com chevron corporation nyse cvx is an american multinational energy corporation . one of the successor companies of standard oil it is headquartered in san ramon california and active in more than 180 countries . chevron is engaged in every aspect of the oil natural gas and geothermal energy industries including hydrocarbon exploration and production ; refining marketing and transport ; chemicals manufacturing and sales ; and power generation . chevron is one of the world s largest oil companies ; as of 2014 update it ranked third in the fortune 500 list of the top us closely held and public corporations and sixteenth on the fortune global 500 list of the top 500 corporations worldwide . 3 4 it was also one of the seven sisters that dominated the global petroleum industry from the mid 1940s to the 1970s . chevron s downstream operations manufacture and sell products such as fuels lubricants additives and petrochemicals . the company s most significant areas of operations are the west coast of north america the u.s. gulf coast southeast asia south korea australia and south africa . in 2010 chevron sold an average 3.1 million barrels per day 490 103 m3 d of refined products like gasoline diesel and jet fuel . chevron s alternative energy operations include geothermal solar wind power biofuel fuel cells and hydrogen . in 2011 2013 the company planned to spend at least 2 billion on research and acquisition of renewable power ventures . chevron has claimed to be the world s largest producer of geothermal energy . in october 2011 chevron launched a 29 mw thermal solar to steam facility in the coalinga field to produce the steam for enhanced oil recovery . the project is the largest of its kind in the world . chevron is also one of the first two fuel brands to be top tier certified . the other being tulsa oklahoma based quicktrip contents 1 history 1.1 predecessors 1.2 formation of the chevron name 1.3 merger with texaco and post merger 2 operations 2.1 upstream 2.2 downstream 2.3 alternative energy 3 corporate affairs 3.1 finance 3.2 headquarters 3.3 political contributions 3.4 board of directors 4 niger delta partnership initiative 5 controversies 5.1 environmental damage in ecuador 5.2 oil spills in angola 5.3 u.s. clean air act settlements 5.4 nimh battery technology for automobiles 5.5 niger delta shootings 5.6 un sanctions 5.7 richmond california refinery 5.8 oil spill off the coast of rio de janeiro 5.9 ks endeavor explosion 5.10 forest fire in lawachara national park bangladesh 5.11 polish gas exploration 5.12 argentina agreement and protests 5.13 public eye lifetime award 5.14 global warming 6 see also 7 references 8 external links history edit predecessors edit chart of the major energy companies dubbed big oil sorted by latest published revenue one of chevron s early predecessors star oil discovered oil at the pico canyon oilfield in the santa susana mountains north of los angeles in 1876 . the 25 barrels of oil per day well marked the discovery of the newhall field and is considered by geophysicist marius vassiliou as the beginning of the modern oil industry in california . 5 energy analyst antonia juhasz has said that while star oil s founders were influential in establishing an oil industry in california union mattole company discovered oil in the state eleven years prior . 6 in september 1879 charles n. felton lloyd tevis george loomis and others created the pacific coast oil company which acquired the assets of star oil 5 with 1 million in funding . 7 pacific coast oil became the largest oil interest in california 7 by time it was acquired by standard oil for 761 000 in 1900 . 5 pacific coast operated independently and retained its name until 1906 when it was merged with a standard oil subsidiary and it became standard oil company california or california standard . 8 9 another predecessor texas fuel company was founded in 1901 in beaumont texas as an oil equipment vendor by buckskin joe . the founder s nickname came from being harsh and aggressive . 6 texas fuel worked closely with chevron . in 1936 it formed a joint venture with california standard named caltex to drill and produce oil in saudi arabia . 10 according to energy analyst and activist shareholder antonia juhasz 11 12 13 the texas fuel company and california standard were often referred to as the terrible twins for their cutthroat business practices . 14 the texas fuel company was renamed the texas company and later renamed texaco . 9 14 formation of the chevron name edit a chevron station branded as standard in las vegas in 1911 standard oil co. california was severed from its parent corporation standard oil as a result of the federal government s successful lawsuit against standard oil under the sherman antitrust act . it went on to become part of the seven sisters which dominated the world oil industry in the early 20th century . 15 in 1926 the company changed its name to standard oil co. of california socal . by the terms of the breakup of standard oil standard of california could use the standard name only within its original geographic area of the pacific coast states plus nevada and arizona ; outside that area it had to use another name . the chevron name came into use for some of its retail products in the 1930s . the name calso was also used from 1946 to 1955 in states outside its native west coast territory . 16 17 18 better source needed standard oil company of california ranked 75th among united states corporations in the value of world war ii military production contracts . 19 in 1933 saudi arabia granted california standard a concession to find oil which led to the discovery of oil in 1938 . in 1948 california standard discovered the world s largest oil field in saudi arabia ghawar field . 20 california standard s subsidiary california arabian standard oil company grew over the years and became 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 its name was changed to saudi arabian oil company saudi aramco . citation needed standard oil of california and gulf oil merged in 1984 which was the largest merger in history at that time . to comply with u.s. antitrust law california standard divested many of gulf s operating subsidiaries and sold some gulf stations and a refinery in the eastern united states . the refinery is currently owned by sunoco . among the assets sold off were gulf s retail outlets in gulf s home market of pittsburgh where chevron lacks a retail presence but does retain a regional headquarters there as of 2013 partially for marcellus shale related drilling . 21 the same year standard oil of california also took the opportunity to change its legal name to chevron corporation since it had already been using the well known chevron retail brand name for decades . chevron would sell the gulf oil trademarks for the entire u.s. to cumberland farms the parent company of gulf oil lp in 2010 after cumberland farms had a license to the gulf trademark in the northeastern united states since 1986 . 22 in 1996 chevron transferred its natural gas gathering operating and marketing operation to ngc corporation later dynegy in exchange for a roughly 25 % equity stake in ngc . 23 in a merger completed february 1 2000 illinova corp. became a wholly owned subsidiary of dynegy inc. and chevron s stake increased up to 28 % . 24 however in may 2007 chevron sold its stake in the company for approximately 985 million resulting in a gain of 680 million . 25 26 merger with texaco and post merger edit on october 15 2000 chevron announced acquisition of texaco in a deal valued at 45 billion creating the second largest oil company in the united states and the world s fourth largest publicly traded oil company with a combined market value of approximately 95 billion . 27 28 29 30 the merged company was named chevrontexaco . on may 9 2005 chevrontexaco announced it would drop the texaco moniker and return to the chevron name . texaco remained as a brand under the chevron corporation . 31 on october 10 2001 texaco purchased general motors share in gm ovonics which in 2003 was restructured into cobasys a 50 50 joint venture between chevron and energy conversion devices ovonics . in 2009 both chevron and energy conservation devices sold their stakes in cobasys to sb limotive co. citation needed chevron gas station design used until 2006 in 2005 chevron purchased unocal corporation for 18.4 billion increasing the company s petroleum and natural gas reserves by about 15 % . 32 33 34 35 because of unocal s large south east asian geothermal operations chevron became a large producer of geothermal energy . 36 chevron and the los alamos national laboratory started a cooperation in 2006 to improve the recovery of hydrocarbons from oil shale by developing a shale oil extraction process named chevron crush . 37 in 2006 the united states department of the interior issued a research development and demonstration lease for chevron s demonstration oil shale project on public lands in colorado s piceance basin . 38 in february 2012 chevron notified the bureau of land management and the department of reclamation mining and safety that it intends to divest this lease . 39 in july 2011 chevron ended retail operations in the mid atlantic united states removing the chevron and texaco names from 1 100 stations . 40 in 2011 chevron acquired pennsylvania based atlas energy inc. for 3.2 billion in cash and an additional 1.1 billion in existing debt owed by atlas . 41 42 43 three months later chevron acquired drilling and development rights for another 228 000 acres in the marcellus shale from chief oil & gas llc and tug hill inc. 44 in september 2013 total s.a and its joint venture partner agreed to buy chevron s retail distribution business in pakistan for an undisclosed amount . 45 in october 2014 chevron announced that it would sell a 30 percent holding in its canadian oil shale holdings to kuwait s state owned oil company kuwait oil company for a fee of 1.5 billion . 46 operations edit chevron employs approximately 62 000 people of which approximately 31 000 are employed in u.s. operations . in october 2015 chevron announced that it is cutting up to 7 000 jobs or 11 percent of its workforce . 47 upstream edit chevron s oil and gas exploration and production operations are primarily in the