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 Standard Oil
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 largest oil field on earth
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 world history at the time. 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. |
