At a Glance
In 2007, Chevron processed approximately 1.8 million barrels of crude oil per day and averaged approximately 3.5 million barrels per day of refined product sales worldwide. Downstream's most significant areas of operations are sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, South Korea, the United Kingdom, the U.S. Gulf Coast extending into Latin America, and the U.S. West Coast. We hold interests in 18 fuel refineries and one asphalt plant and market under the Chevron, Texaco and Caltex motor fuel brands. Products are sold through a network of more than 25,000 retail stations, including those of affiliated companies.
Strategy: Improve base business returns and selectively grow with a focus on integrated value creation.
Chevron's downstream operations include refining, fuels and lubricants, marketing, supply and trading, and transportation. Our refining operations are strategically located to serve the world's fastest-growing markets, in Asia and North America, and they are configured to refine significant volumes of low-cost crude oils into high-value products. Our three motor fuel brands — Chevron, Texaco and Caltex — are among the most respected in the industry.
Refining
To improve margins, Chevron is selectively investing in its refining system to process greater quantities of low-cost heavy and high-sulfur crude oils. By the end of 2007, major upgrades had been completed at refineries in El Segundo, California; Pembroke, United Kingdom; and at our affiliate refinery in Yeosu, South Korea (see Upgrading Refineries). After completing an upgrade of our Pascagoula, Mississippi, refinery in 2006, we announced plans to build a unit at the refinery that will increase gasoline production by approximately 10 percent, or about 600,000 gallons per day. Construction is expected to begin in 2008 and be completed by mid-2010.
In an ongoing effort to focus on areas of market strength, we divested our interests in nonstrategic refining and other manufacturing properties in the Netherlands.
Unplanned shutdowns caused our refining utilization rate to decline from the previous year. An aggressive effort is under way to address reliability issues and improve our utilization rate.
Marketing
Chevron's three brands hold top positions in their markets around the world. In 2007, we continued to expand our U.S. Texaco marketing network to more than 2,400 sites and to strengthen our international Caltex and Texaco brands through the phased introduction of our performance-enhancing gasoline additive, Techron.
To improve returns, we continued to divest nonstrategic assets. In 2007, we sold our fuels and marketing businesses in Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands; our retail fuels business in Uruguay; and our North America credit card businesses.