Chevron played a major role in developing the resources of Kuwait and the Middle East. Gulf Oil Corp., which became part of Chevron in 1984, discovered Kuwait's super-giant Burgan Field in 1938. The discovery helped transform Kuwait into a top oil producer. As a 50 percent owner of the Kuwait Oil Co. (KOC), the company was involved in the production and management of Kuwait's oil fields.
Under a 1994 agreement with the KOC, Chevron subsidiaries provided technical expertise for the continued development of the Burgan Field. The KOC agreement expired in 2008.
From 2003 to 2010, Chevron had a contract with the Kuwait National Petroleum Co. (KNPC) to share technical, operational and managerial knowledge with employees of the KNPC's three refineries.
Chevron, the Kuwait Gulf Oil Co. and their respective predecessor companies have operated four oil fields in the onshore Partitioned Zone (PZ) since 1949, in keeping with a 1922 Neutral Zone agreement through which Kuwait and Saudi Arabia share the natural resources jointly. In 2009, the 60-year agreement between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Chevron predecessor Getty Oil Co. was amended and extended for another 30 years. Under the agreement, Chevron operates the kingdom's 50 percent interest in petroleum resources.
Getty Oil Co. became part of Texaco in 1984, and Texaco merged with Chevron in 2001. The Kuwait Gulf Oil Co. operates Kuwait's 50 percent interest in the PZ.
In 2004, we celebrated a milestone when the onshore PZ's operations surpassed 3 billion barrels of production. More recently, we entered the third phase of the long-term staged testing process for determining the technical and economic feasibility of using steamflooding to increase production from the onshore PZ's Eocene heavy oil reservoirs.
In 1968, we began licensing refinery technology and supplying catalysts to KNPC refineries.
Chevron is committed to a safe work environment and has achieved impressive results in the PZ. At the end of 2012, employees of Saudi Arabian Chevron at Mina Saud and Wafra had logged more than 18 million work-hours over more than 12 years without a lost-time incident.
With regard to environmental safety, Joint Operations has made significant progress in its Zero Discharge program to eliminate surface disposal of water from production and remediate former water collection areas to international standards. By the end of 2012, 93 percent of former pit areas were reclaimed, and there was zero discharge of produced water under normal operating conditions.
Updated: April 2013
Cautionary Statement