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Approach: Working to Prevent Problems
Performance: Managing Our Liabilities Responsibly
Approach: Working to Prevent Problems
ChevronTexaco's aim is to responsibly steward its assets throughout their lifecycle, from design and construction, through operation and, in some cases, sale to another party or decommissioning. Our goal is to prevent environmental problems before they happen. When designing and building new projects, we include many design elements to prevent impacts to land and groundwater. Some of our facilities have been in operation for many decades, over which time practices for facility design, waste management and spill prevention have evolved. Although they were consistent with standard industry practices at the time, our past operating practices at some of these locations resulted in releases of hydrocarbons and other chemicals to land and groundwater. ChevronTexaco expects its businesses to evaluate potential risks posed by these past releases and to take steps to mitigate them.
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| In Cincinnati, Ohio, a natural wetland flourishes where a refinery once stood, following a ChevronTexaco restoration program. |
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In the case of asset sales, it is our policy to assess and manage our environmental liabilities prior to any property transactions. Appropriate cleanup or restoration is conducted as needed to ensure that the property is suitable for continued current use or, if the use is changing, for the intended future use. But at times the new owner may not properly manage its environmental obligations, or the property may subsequently change hands. In some instances, external parties have sought to make us responsible for remediation of subsequent damage, despite our view that we had previously met our obligations.
Chevron Environmental Management Company (EMC), a wholly owned operating company, focuses primarily on the responsible decommissioning and cleanup of ChevronTexaco sites. EMC uses a rigorous process for managing environmental cleanups based on its experience in managing capital construction projects. Although EMC's activities are focused primarily in the United States, it works collaboratively with ChevronTexaco business units worldwide on land and groundwater assessments, cleanups and decommissioning, as well as helping reduce future liabilities through technology transfer and best-practice sharing.
Performance: Managing Our Liabilities Responsibly
Like many other large energy companies operating in the United States, ChevronTexaco is cleaning up a number of sites where it has current or past operations. We currently are cleaning up more than 3,000 such sites in the United States. These are primarily current or former service stations, refineries, oil and gas fields, and chemical facilities, as well as waste sites covered under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Superfund program. We are addressing potential risks associated with releases to soil and groundwater resulting from historical operations that, in some cases, go back nearly 100 years. ChevronTexaco has spent more than US$3 billion on such cleanups since 1980. Much of this work has been undertaken voluntarily in cooperation with regulatory agencies. Internationally, ChevronTexaco uses the same risk management philosophy in its approach to site cleanups.
Particularly in our upstream operations, we also are engaged in multiple efforts to decommission our facilities, including closing oil and gas wells that are no longer productive, dismantling surface equipment and pipelines, and removing offshore platforms at the end of their service life. Annually, we plug more than a thousand wells and remove several offshore platforms.
| ChevronTexaco's U.S. Decommissioning and Cleanup Activities and Expenditures |
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| 1999 |
$298 million |
191 |
7 |
| 2000 |
$280 million |
293 |
13 |
| 2001 |
$284 million |
264 |
0 |
| 2002 |
$327 million |
222 |
4 |
*1999-2001 data are combined Chevron and Texaco, 2002 data are ChevronTexaco.
**1999-2000 data are Chevron, 2001-2002 data are ChevronTexaco. |
The following are examples of ChevronTexaco's successful decommissioning or cleaning up of company sites:
- In Fullerton, California, ChevronTexaco is turning a former oil production property into a 760-unit housing facility, including single- and multiple-family residences. The plan includes a neighborhood commercial center, open space with native habitat conservation areas, a public use site with parks and schools, private recreational amenities, bikeways, and eight miles of recreational trails.
- In 2002, the U.S. EPA recognized ChevronTexaco for its innovative handling of the environmental - as well as community - issues surrounding the cleanup of its former Cincinnati Refinery. The Cincinnati facility and its employees also received certification from the Wildlife Habitat Council for the development of a successful wildlife management program, including habitat restoration, wetlands creation, and a joint project with EPA and the University of Cincinnati, that uses plants to help accelerate the cleanup.
- In the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, ChevronTexaco's upstream company has removed approximately 230 platforms since 1986. Approximately 40 of these platforms were used as artificial reefs to provide enhanced marine habitats as part of government-sponsored Rigs to Reefs programs. The remainder of the platforms were either recycled at steel mills or reused as platforms elsewhere in the Gulf of Mexico.
- In 2003, the U.S. EPA gave national recognition to ChevronTexaco as one of only a handful of companies committed to key cleanup objectives at former refineries and chemical facilities under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act by 2005. We are well on our way to meeting this commitment.
- In the Partitioned Neutral Zone between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, Saudi Arabian Texaco, Inc., is undertaking an extensive cleanup of oily pits caused by historic operating practices. This multiyear project will address 65 separate pits comprising more than 3 million square meters of impacted land area.
- In Indonesia, prior to turning the lease for a major production block over to a new operator, ChevronTexaco undertook an extensive review and cleanup effort to help ensure the facilities were transferred in a safe and environmentally sound condition. All of these activities were documented to communicate the condition of the production facilities to the new operator and to the Indonesian government. The operating block also received ISO 14001 certification as further demonstration of the environmental processes and practices in place prior to ChevronTexaco's relinquishing control.
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