Chevron Corp

Chevron Corporation is an American multinational energy firm primarily focused on oil and gas. As the second-largest direct descendant of Standard Oil, originally known as the Standard Oil Company of California, it operates in more than 180 countries. Chevron is vertically integrated within the oil and gas sector, engaging in hydrocarbon exploration, production, refining, marketing and transportation, chemical manufacturing and sales, as well as power generation.

Originally founded in Southern California in the 1870s, the company was based in San Francisco, California, for many years before relocating its corporate headquarters to San Ramon, California, in 2001. As of August 2, 2024, Chevron announced plans to shift its headquarters from California to Houston, Texas.

The company’s history can be traced back to the latter part of the 19th century, when it was formed from small California oil companies that were acquired by Standard Oil and merged into Standard Oil of California. Following the breakup of Standard Oil, Chevron rapidly expanded by continuing to acquire and partner with other firms both within and outside California, ultimately becoming one of the Seven Sisters, which dominated the global oil industry from the mid-1940s to the 1970s.

In 1985, the company, then known as Socal, merged with Gulf Oil, headquartered in Pittsburgh, and rebranded as Chevron. This merged entity later joined forces with Texaco in 2001. Chevron manufactures and markets fuels, lubricants, additives, and petrochemicals, primarily in Western North America, the US Gulf Coast, Southeast Asia, South Korea, and Australia. In 2018, Chevron produced an average of 791,000 barrels of net oil-equivalent per day in the United States.

As one of the largest companies globally, Chevron is the second-largest oil firm based in the United States by revenue, trailing only fellow Standard Oil descendant ExxonMobil. In 2024, Chevron ranked 16th on the Fortune 500. Additionally, it remains the sole oil-and-gas component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average following ExxonMobil's exit from the index in 2020.