Chevron Corporation (CVX)

Chevron agreed on 6 October 2026 to hand its stake in Hess Midstream and its DJ Basin crude pipelines to Hess Midstream, for $200 million in cash and cheaper, longer Bakken shipping contracts 2. Chevron expects its Bakken pipeline costs per barrel to fall by about 50 percent, and a one-time after-tax loss of about $3 to $4 billion at closing 2. The company said the loss arises because the future savings cannot be booked as an asset 2.

The deal takes Hess Midstream off Chevron's books along with about $3.7 billion of that company's debt, and Chevron expects it to close by the end of 2026 2. Hess Midstream said the Bakken contracts now run through 2045 and that Chevron is expected to cut its Bakken drilling rigs from three to two in December 2026, Reuters reported 14.

Behind the deal sits a strong second quarter: earnings were $12.1 billion, against $2.5 billion a year earlier, on higher oil prices, better refining margins and more barrels sold 1. Oil prices jumped after the conflict in the Middle East escalated, and Brent crude averaged $104 a barrel in the quarter against $68 a year before 51. Production rose 20 percent, largely from the former Hess fields 1.

The open question is how the third quarter went, with the results call set for 30 October 2026 19.

Chevron began as Standard Oil Company of California, incorporated in Delaware in 1926, took the Chevron name in 1984 and became ChevronTexaco Corporation in 2001 4. It went back to the name Chevron Corporation in 2005 4. Texaco Inc. and Unocal Corporation still sit on its list of significant subsidiaries 11.

In 2020 sales and other operating revenues fell to $94.5 billion from $139.9 billion, and Chevron lost $5.5 billion 8. The annual report blamed lower prices for refined products, crude oil and natural gas, and lower refined product volumes 8. In October 2020 Chevron bought Noble Energy, which enlarged its Permian position and added land in Colorado and Wyoming 8.

Prices then recovered, and revenue reached $155.6 billion in 2021 and $235.7 billion in 2022 7. Net income was $15.6 billion in 2021 and $35.5 billion in 2022, as refined product, crude oil and natural gas prices rose and more refined products were sold 7.

In August 2023 Chevron completed its purchase of PDC Energy, which added 275,000 net acres and made it the largest oil and gas producer in Colorado, with about 605,000 net acres in the DJ Basin 9. Revenue slipped to $196.9 billion in 2023 and $193.4 billion in 2024, and net income to $21.4 billion and then $17.7 billion, mainly on lower commodity prices 49.

The biggest move was Hess Corporation, a deal delayed by an arbitration with affiliates of Exxon Mobil and CNOOC over a right of first refusal on the Stabroek Block off Guyana 10. Chevron closed it on 18 July 2025 for about $48 billion, paying mostly with 301.25 million new shares, about 15 percent of its stock afterwards 4. It also took on $8.8 billion of Hess debt 4.

In 2025 revenue fell to $184.4 billion and net income to $12.3 billion, mainly because crude oil and refined product prices were lower 4. Output still rose about 12 percent, to 3.7 million barrels of oil-equivalent a day, thanks to Hess, the Future Growth Project at Tengiz in Kazakhstan and a record Permian Basin 4. Oil-equivalent counts oil and gas together in barrels 4.

The first quarter of 2026 looked weak on paper: earnings fell to $2.2 billion from $3.5 billion, mostly because of about $2.9 billion of unfavorable timing effects 6. These are gaps between marking hedges to market and delivering the oil, plus inventory accounting, and the sharp rise in prices in March 2026 also tied up cash 6.

Oil and gas production

Upstream, the business of finding and pumping oil and gas, earned $8.2 billion of the second quarter's $12.1 billion 1. Chevron produced about 4.07 million barrels of oil-equivalent a day in the quarter, 2.08 million of them in the United States, a company record 1.

The Permian Basin of West Texas and New Mexico is the largest single piece, with more than 1,750,000 net acres and output of one million barrels of oil-equivalent a day in 2025 4. Chevron drills there factory style, many horizontal wells from one pad, then fractures the rock to free the oil and gas 4.

Abroad, Chevron owns 50 percent of Tengizchevroil, which runs the Tengiz and Korolev oil fields in Kazakhstan under a concession that expires in 2033 4. It holds 30 percent of the Stabroek Block off Guyana without operating it, where a fourth production ship started in August 2025 4. It runs the Gorgon and Wheatstone gas export plants in Western Australia, which cool gas into liquid (LNG) for shipping, and owns 47.3 percent of Gorgon 4.

Refining, fuels and chemicals

Downstream turns crude into gasoline, diesel and jet fuel and sells them, and it earned $4.9 billion in the second quarter after a loss of $817 million in the first 1. Chevron's refineries could process 1.8 million barrels a day at the end of 2025, and its five U.S. refineries ran at a record 1.07 million barrels a day in the second quarter 41.

It sells fuel under the Chevron and Texaco brands at about 8,600 U.S. stations, mostly in the South and West, and at about 5,200 branded stations abroad, with the Caltex brand in Asia Pacific 4. Pascagoula in Mississippi is its largest refinery by capacity, ahead of El Segundo and Richmond in California 4.

Chevron owns 50 percent of Chevron Phillips Chemical, which makes olefins and polyolefins, the building blocks of plastics, and half of GS Caltex in South Korea, whose Yeosu refinery can take 800,000 barrels a day 4. Its own Chevron Oronite makes additives for lubricating oils and fuels 4.

It also makes renewable fuels, with 11 biofuel plants in the U.S. and Germany, and its Geismar plant in Louisiana was expanded from 7,000 to 22,000 barrels a day of renewable diesel 4.

Power for data centers and new energies

In the second quarter of 2026 a Chevron unit, Energy Forge One, signed a 20-year agreement to power a Microsoft data center in West Texas, a project called Kilby 116. The plant is planned at about 2.67 gigawatts of gas-fired power made on site, from GE Vernova and Solar Turbines machines 116. Chevron said it will generate its own power and not draw from the grid, Bloomberg reported 15.

Its new energies unit also works on hydrogen, carbon capture and storage, geothermal power and lithium 4. In 2025 Chevron acquired about 135,000 net acres in the Smackover Formation of Texas and Arkansas to explore for lithium, a battery metal 4.

The people

Mike Wirth has been chairman and chief executive since February 2018 4. Chevron had 43,039 employees at the end of 2025, 5,179 of them at service stations 4. From 1 January 2027 finance chief Eimear Bonner becomes President, Oil, Products and Gas, and Jeff Gustavson, head of New Energies since August 2021, becomes chief financial officer 3.

Vice Chairman Mark Nelson keeps that title and takes on strategy and business development 3. Chief legal officer Hewitt Pate steps down on 31 December 2026, ahead of his retirement in June 2027 13.

Rivals

The annual report names its rivals as the other fully integrated major oil companies, independents and national oil companies, competing for leases, equipment and labor upstream and for fuel and chemical customers downstream 4. Affiliates of Exxon Mobil, another integrated major, are its partners in the Stabroek Block off Guyana 10.

Problems

The Middle East conflict cut production in the Partitioned Zone between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait and at Chevron Phillips Chemical's plants in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and the company says the region remains volatile 5. Drone attacks have hit the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, the main export route for Tengiz oil, the quarterly report notes 5.

As Hurricane Isaias neared the Gulf coast, Chevron evacuated most of its Gulf of Mexico staff and shut in output at five platforms, keeping four producing, Reuters reported 18.

Chevron is a defendant in 35 Louisiana coastal erosion cases, and in April 2025 a jury awarded Plaquemines Parish $744.6 million in one of them, which Chevron plans to appeal 5. It has also been among the defendants in 34 climate lawsuits brought by U.S. cities, counties, states and others 5.

The umbrella, in words

Chevron sells fuel under three main brands, Chevron, Texaco and Caltex, and base oils also under Nexbase 4. The significant subsidiaries its newest annual report lists, all wholly owned, include Chevron U.S.A. Inc., Texaco Inc., Union Oil Company of California, Noble Energy, PDC Energy, Hess Corporation and Renewable Energy Group 11.

Chevron owns 50 percent of Tengizchevroil, Chevron Phillips Chemical, GS Caltex and Singapore Refining Company, and 60.6 percent of the Star Petroleum refinery in Thailand 4. It owns about 38 percent of Hess Midstream and controls its general partner, a stake it agreed on 6 October 2026 to hand over 42.

In Venezuela it holds interests in assets run by independent affiliates, recorded as non-equity investments since 2020, so their output and reserves stay out of its results 5. Its venture arm, Chevron Technology Ventures, has backed more than 140 startups through 10 funds 4.

Its land includes more than 1,750,000 net acres in the Permian Basin, about 605,000 net acres in Colorado's DJ Basin after the PDC purchase, and about 135,000 net acres in the Smackover for lithium 49.

Its largest holders as of 16 March 2026, in the 2026 proxy statement, were The Vanguard Group with 8.56 percent, State Street with 7.50 percent, BlackRock with 7.00 percent and Berkshire Hathaway with 6.70 percent 12. Its common stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol CVX 3.

Chevron holds its third-quarter results call on 30 October 2026, at 10:00 in the morning Central time 19. It said it expected to repurchase between $2.5 and $3.0 billion of its own shares in that quarter 5.

Chevron expects the Hess Midstream deal to close by the end of 2026, after regulatory approvals, and to treat the $3 to $4 billion loss as a special item 2. The company also expects the deal to lift its return on capital employed by 0.5 percentage points 2.

For Project Kilby, Chevron expects a final investment decision by the end of 2026 and first power in 2028, and it said the project targets mid-teen returns 16. Chevron and its partner Engine No. 1 had committed orders for seven GE Vernova gas turbines, Bloomberg reported 15.

The sale of its 50 percent of Singapore Refining Company and other Asian downstream assets is expected to close in 2027 1. The buyer, Eneos Holdings of Japan, put the price at nearly $2.2 billion, Hydrocarbon Processing reported 17.

Chevron Phillips Chemical expects start-up of its Golden Triangle plant in Texas and its Ras Laffan plant in Qatar in the first half of 2027 4. Gorgon Stage 3 is expected to deliver first gas in 2029, and the Stabroek partners expect eight production ships with about 1.7 million gross barrels a day by 2030 4.

The company estimated its 2026 organic capital spending at $18 to $19 billion 4. It aims for $3 to $4 billion of structural cost cuts by the end of 2026 and said it had reached $3 billion of annual savings by the second quarter 41.

The new finance chief and the new head of Oil, Products and Gas take office on 1 January 2027 3. In Iraq, Chevron signed heads of agreements, a first step short of a contract, toward possible roles in the West Qurna 2 and Nasiriyah oilfields and an export pipeline 1.

Past

Chevron's revenue grew from $114 billion in fiscal 2016 to $189 billion in fiscal 2025, up 5.7% a year over ten filed years, rising in 5 of 9 years with a deepest fall of 43% from fiscal 2018 to fiscal 2020; net income was positive in 8 of 10 of those years. Over the three fiscal years to 2025-12-31, the diluted share count shrank about 1.5% a year, and dividends and buybacks returned about 77% of operating cash flow over those three years. The filings since 2017 show no warning events: no bankruptcy, debt default, exchange listing notice, restatement warning, auditor change, material cyber incident or late-report notice. 1

Present

In the fiscal year ended 2025-12-31, Chevron reported revenue of $189 billion and profit of $12 billion. Return on equity was 7 cents of profit per dollar of shareholders' money, and gross profitability was 25 cents earned per dollar of everything the company owns. Leverage was 42 cents owed per dollar of assets, and the share count grew 2.1% over the fiscal year. Revenue of $189 billion ranks in the top 10% by size among 17 graded names in its industry family; net margin of 6.5% ranks in the top 21%. 21

Michael K. Wirth is Chairman and CEO, filing under that title since 2018-02-02, 8.7 years; the 22 officers and directors filing in the last fifteen months have been on the record a median of 6.8 years. Officers and directors filed 78 sales and 0 open-market purchases of their own stock in the year to 2026-09-30. 1

Future

The quarterly report for the quarter ending 2026-09-30 is due by 2026-11-09. The annual report for the fiscal year ending 2026-12-31 is due by 2027-03-01. Cash of $7.3 billion against debt of $40 billion leaves -10% of assets as net cash, top 38% of its family; cash from operations less capital spending is 8.8% of revenue, top 28%. Revenue grew -8.4% a year over the last three filed years against 5.7% over all ten, slowing; the newest year grew -6.8%. 31

How the company operates

Chevron is classed as a commodity producer under Petroleum Refining, based in Houston, Texas. The company reported two lines of business in fiscal 2025: Reportable Segment Aggregation Before Other Operating at $188 billion and All Other at $644 million, with zero of two lines growing in the latest filed year and the largest line at 100% of revenue. 21

New moves

On Tuesday 6 October Chevron agreed to hand Hess Midstream its stake of about 38 percent, the general partner that controls it and its DJ Basin crude oil gathering assets, in return for $200 million in cash and Bakken pipeline and processing contracts that it says cut its unit costs there by about half and now run to 2045; Chevron will take Hess Midstream and about $3.7 billion of its debt off its books and expects a one-time after-tax loss of about $3 billion to $4 billion at closing, which both companies expect by year-end 2026. Gulf oil shut-ins tied to Hurricane Isaias in mid-October affected Chevron's Pascagoula refinery on the western edge of the forecast path; the company is named in multiple desk studies on hurricane impacts to Gulf oil production between 2026-10-09 and 2026-10-15. 4