Chevron has extensive oil and gas exploration and production operations around the world. In 2010, our worldwide net oil-equivalent production averaged 2.763 million barrels per day, 2 percent higher than in 2009. Our producing operations are geographically dispersed. In 2010, about 26 percent of production was in the United States, another 13 percent was in Kazakhstan and other countries accounted for no more than 10 percent of total production each.
Chevron has an extensive lineup of major capital projects under way to bring new oil and natural gas resources to global markets. Our range of projects is diverse, from conventional oil and natural gas to deepwater developments, liquefied natural gas (LNG) and heavy oil.
We also focus on maximizing the potential of mature reservoirs. The company is managing production declines in existing fields with well workovers, artificial-lift techniques, facility and equipment improvements, and enhanced-recovery methods such as steamflooding and water injection.
Exploration is the foundation for our future growth. Since 2002, Chevron has added an average of 1 billion oil-equivalent barrels per year to its resource base. The company's focus areas for exploration in 2010 were the deepwater regions of Western Africa, the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and offshore northwest Australia. Drilling and seismic activities were ongoing or being planned in promising fields offshore the United Kingdom, the east coast of Canada and in deepwater offshore Brazil. Acres of new test areas were acquired in Canada, China, Liberia, Poland, Romania and Turkey.
Chevron Partners for Growth in the Caspian
Chevron is the largest private producer of oil in Kazakhstan, and we're involved in two of the country's largest projects, Tengiz and Karachaganak. Since 1993, Chevron has led the Tengizchevroil (TCO) joint venture in the development of the giant Tengiz and adjacent Korolev fields. A major expansion project, the Sour Gas Injection and Second Generation Plant, increased TCO's oil production capacity by approximately 80 percent. Chevron also holds a stake in Karachaganak, Kazakhstan's second-largest producing petroleum reserve. And we are the largest private shareholder in the Caspian Pipeline Consortium pipeline, which provides a critical export route for oil from Tengiz and Karachaganak. In December 2010, the consortium partners approved a major expansion of the pipeline.
In Azerbaijan, Chevron has an interest in the Azerbaijan International Operating Company, which produces and develops offshore oil reserves in the Caspian Sea from the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli project. We are also a partner in the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, which transports oil from landlocked Caspian oil fields to Mediterranean deepwater port facilities.
Asia-Pacific Region Is Rich With Opportunities
As the largest resource holder and producer among international oil companies in the Asia-Pacific region, Chevron is investing in a portfolio of energy resources to meet growing energy demand in the region.
In Australia, the company is a founding partner in the North West Shelf Venture, which has been exporting LNG to customers in the Asia-Pacific region for 20 years and supplying natural gas to Western Australia for 25 years. We have operated the country's largest oil field on Barrow Island for more than 45 years. We are leading the development of the Gorgon and Wheatstone LNG and domestic gas projects. The Gorgon Project is Australia's largest single resource project and has an expected economic life of more than 40 years from the time of startup, which is scheduled for 2014. Chevron continues to make significant investments in exploration offshore northwest Australia and has announced a number of gas discoveries in recent years.
In Thailand, Chevron is the leading natural gas and oil producer. We provide enough natural gas to meet about one-third of the country's power demand. We operate more than 200 platforms in the Gulf of Thailand, where our Platong II project began production in 2011.
Elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific region, Chevron is the top oil producer in Indonesia, and we operate one of the largest steamflood developments in the world at the Duri Field on Sumatra. In China, we operate the Chuandongbei natural gas development. Our Bibiyana natural gas field, which started up in 2007, is one of the most significant gas discoveries in Bangladesh.
Chevron Grows Along With Africa and Latin America
Chevron is applying its expertise and advanced technology to meet the energy needs of growing African and Latin American economies. Our operations include oil and natural gas, LNG, gas-to-liquids, and deepwater and heavy-oil exploration and production.
Chevron is ranked among the top petroleum producers in Angola. We invest in major energy projects intended to dramatically increase oil production and conserve natural gas for use in Angola.
Recent major projects have included Benguela Belize–Lobito Tomboco, Tombua-Landana and Mafumeira Norte. In 2011, a final investment decision is expected to be made on the second stage of the Mafumeira field development, Mafumeira Sul. The country's first LNG plant is under construction in Soyo.
Chevron is the third-largest oil producer in Nigeria and one of the largest investors in the country. The company has significant natural gas resources in deepwater Nigeria. These include the Agbami Field, one of Nigeria's largest deepwater discoveries, which began production in 2009, and the Usan project, a development expected to start production in 2012. Construction was completed in late 2009 on the Chevron-operated Escravos Gas Plant Phase 3A expansion. The project received is first delivery of natural gas in 2010. Construction is continuing on a gas-to-liquids facility at Escravos.
In Latin America, Chevron has operations or interests in six countries. We are expanding our work in Brazil, where we have invested significant resources to develop the Frade Field, one of the largest deepwater heavy oil projects in the world. Frade achieved first production in 2009. In January 2010, we announced plans to go ahead with a second deepwater development, Papa-Terra.
Chevron participates in both onshore and offshore production projects in Venezuela, including Petropiar, a successful project that involves upgrading extra-heavy crude oil to lighter, higher-value synthetic crude oil, and the planned development of the country's first LNG train. In Colombia, Chevron produces enough natural gas to meet approximately 65 percent of the nation's demand.
Maximizing Mature Resources and Creating New Opportunities
In North America, Chevron uses the latest technology to maintain strong production in mature fields while discovering and developing new resources. We are the third-largest producer of oil and gas in the United States, with major producing operations in California, the Gulf of Mexico, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, the Rocky Mountains and Alaska. In February 2011, the company added natural gas resources and shale acreage, primarily in southwestern Pennsylvania and northern Michigan, with the acquisition of Atlas Energy, Inc.
We are one of the larger producers of crude oil and natural gas on the Gulf of Mexico shelf and in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. Our projects include the Blind Faith and Tahiti deepwater developments. Final investment decisions were made on the Jack/St. Malo and Big Foot projects in 2010.
Operating primarily in the San Joaquin Valley, Chevron again ranked No. 1 in net oil-equivalent production in California in 2010. Our extensive thermal recovery operations have revolutionized the production of heavy oil from these century-old central California fields. We also are one of the largest hydrocarbon producers in the Permian Basin of West Texas.
In Canada, most of our crude oil production comes from the Hibernia Field offshore Newfoundland and Labrador, and we are a partner in the Athabasca Oil Sands Expansion Project, which produces bitumen—hydrocarbons mixed with asphalts and tars—from oil sands. We are also evaluating a range of unconventional resource options, such as shale gas development in western Canada. We continue to pursue development opportunities offshore eastern Canada and in Canada's western Arctic. The Chevron Arctic Center in Calgary is home base for experts on safe and environmentally sound exploration and resource development in the challenging Arctic environment.
Chevron is the only large international energy company with a continuous upstream presence in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that spans more than 70 years. On behalf of the kingdom, we conduct exploration and production activities in the Partitioned Zone. Our Large-Scale Pilot Steamflood Project at the Wafra Field is designed to determine the technical and economic viability of thermal-recovery projects in the heavy oil carbonate reservoir.
In Europe, Chevron has a variety of producing operations and exploration interests in the western region of the Shetland Basin, the Norwegian Barents Sea and Greenland. Chevron operations in the North Sea have a track record of technological innovation. The Captain Field was one of the first North Sea fields to employ horizontal drilling. In 2009 and 2010, the company acquired exploration licenses for shale gas acreage in Poland and Romania.
Updated: January 2012
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