Safety, Operations and Financial Returns Set New Company Milestones
SAN RAMON, Calif., April 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Chevron
Corporation (NYSE: CVX) had a record-setting year in 2006, and the company
is delivering on its commitments to supply safe, clean and reliable energy
to fuel economic growth, Chevron Chairman and CEO Dave O'Reilly said at the
company's 2007 Annual Stockholders' Meeting.
"We had a year of strong performance," O'Reilly stated. "We have the
people and the right strategies to create a platform for long-term growth
and sustained superior performance."
In his remarks to stockholders, O'Reilly highlighted technology among
several key elements contributing to Chevron's success. He credited the
role technology plays in bringing energy resources to market, enabling
Chevron to make advancements in exploration, deepwater development, natural
gas and heavy oil to develop ever-cleaner transportation fuels and to
improve energy efficiency.
Technology also is creating new business opportunities for Chevron.
"We're developing new technologies to advance renewable and alternative
forms of energy such as biofuels," O'Reilly added.
Peter Robertson, vice chairman of the board, spoke about Chevron's
strong operational performance in 2006 and the company's financial returns.
For the year, Chevron reported record net income of $17.1 billion and a
return on capital employed of approximately 23 percent. He added that the
company increased its quarterly dividend by 15.6 percent in 2006, the 19th
consecutive increase in the annual dividend. Chevron also completed a $5
billion stock buyback, bringing buybacks to a total of $10 billion within
the last three years.
"2006 was an excellent year for Chevron in many ways," Robertson said.
"We set another new record for safety performance. We are closing in on our
goal to be the industry leader in safety performance."
Robertson also provided an overview of Chevron's plans in 2007 to
invest $19.6 billion in capital and exploratory expenditures, an 18 percent
increase over 2006. About 75 is percent budgeted for worldwide crude oil
and natural gas exploration and production projects, with another 20
percent planned for Chevron's global refining, marketing and transportation
business.
George Kirkland, executive vice president, Upstream and Gas, discussed
the strength of the company's positions worldwide and the competitive
advantage Chevron gains from its diversified and balanced upstream
portfolio. He also stressed that production and reserves growth are
progressing according to plan. He said the company is on track to grow
production by an average of more than three percent a year between 2005 and
2010.
"Over the past five years, our exploration program achieved an
industry- leading success rate of 45 percent," Kirkland said. "In 2006, 42
successful exploration and appraisal wells added over 1 billion barrels of
oil-equivalent resources, continuing the average of 1 billion barrels per
year over the five- year period. We have also had great success in our base
business initiatives to minimize production declines from existing fields
and continue to effectively advance our world-class queue of major capital
projects to ensure long-term production growth."
Mike Wirth, executive vice president, Downstream, presented
stockholders with examples of how the company is positioned to meet
increased global product demand. He said Chevron is capitalizing on
increased product demand by offering established brands, maintaining a
strong presence in key markets and expanding refining capacity in the
United States and Asia.
Wirth also stated that "2006 was a year of bests" for Chevron's
downstream organization, achieving milestones in safety, refinery
utilization, energy efficiency and earnings. "Downstream produced great
results in 2006. With our focus on operational excellence and pursuit of
selected growth opportunities, we are confident we will sustain this
progress in 2007 and create long-term value for our stockholders," Wirth
added.
Nine proposals were voted on by Chevron stockholders, and the
preliminary report of the Inspector of Election is as follows:
Item 1: More than 1.7 billion shares, or approximately 97 percent of the
votes cast, were voted for the 14 nominees for election to the Board of
Directors.
Item 2: More than 1.7 billion shares, or approximately 98 percent of the
votes cast, were voted to ratify the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers
LLP as the independent registered public accounting firm.
Item 3: Approximately 80 percent of the outstanding shares were voted for
the Board's proposal to amend Chevron's restated Certificate of
Incorporation to repeal the supermajority vote provisions.
Item 4: Approximately 72 percent of the votes cast were voted against the
stockholder proposal to report on human rights.
Item 5: Approximately 91 percent of the votes cast were voted against the
stockholder proposal to report on greenhouse gas emissions.
Item 6: Approximately 92 percent of the votes cast were voted against the
stockholder proposal to adopt an animal welfare policy.
Item 7: Approximately 63 percent of the votes cast were voted against the
stockholder proposal to recommend amendment to the company bylaws to
separate the CEO/Chairman positions.
Item 8: Approximately 10 percent of the outstanding shares were voted for
the stockholder proposal to amend the company's bylaws relating to the
Stockholder Rights Plan Policy. (An amendment to the company's bylaws
requires a vote of more than 50 percent of the outstanding shares to be
adopted.)
Item 9: Approximately 91 percent of the votes cast were voted against the
stockholder proposal to report on host country environmental laws.
Final voting results will be reported in Chevron's second quarter 2007
Form 10-Q, which will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission
in early August. Specific information about the proposals before Chevron
stockholders this year may be found in the Investor Relations section of
the company's Web site in the "Notice of the 2007 Annual Meeting and the
2007 Proxy Statement."
About Chevron
Chevron Corporation is one of the world's leading energy companies.
With approximately 56,000 employees, Chevron subsidiaries conduct business
in approximately 180 countries around the world, producing and transporting
crude oil and natural gas, and refining, marketing and distributing fuels
and other energy products. Chevron is based in San Ramon, Calif. More
information on Chevron is available at http://www.chevron.com .
Cautionary Statement Relevant to Forward-Looking Information for the
Purpose of "Safe Harbor" Provisions of the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995.
This press release of Chevron Corporation contains forward-looking
statements relating to Chevron's operations that are based on management's
current expectations, estimates and projections about the petroleum,
chemicals and other energy-related industries. Words such as "anticipates,"
"expects," "intends," "plans," "targets," "projects," "believes," "seeks,"
"schedules," "estimates," "budgets" and similar expressions are intended to
identify such forward-looking statements. These statements are not
guarantees of future performance and are subject to certain risks,
uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond our control and
are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ
materially from what is expressed or forecasted in such forward-looking
statements. The reader should not place undue reliance on these
forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press
release. Unless legally required, Chevron undertakes no obligation to
update publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise.
Among the important factors that could cause actual results to differ
materially from those in the forward-looking statements are crude oil and
natural gas prices; refining margins and marketing margins; chemicals
prices and competitive conditions affecting supply and demand for
aromatics, olefins and additives products; actions of competitors; the
competitiveness of alternate energy sources or product substitutes;
technological developments; the results of operations and financial
condition of equity affiliates; the inability or failure of the company's
joint-venture partners to fund their share of operations and development
activities; the potential failure to achieve expected net production from
existing and future crude oil and natural gas development projects;
potential delays in the development, construction or start-up of planned
projects; the potential disruption or interruption of the company's net
production or manufacturing facilities or delivery/transportation networks
due to war, accidents, political events, civil unrest, severe weather or
crude-oil production quotas that might be imposed by OPEC (Organization of
Petroleum Exporting Countries); the potential liability for remedial
actions under existing or future environmental regulations and litigation;
significant investment or product changes under existing or future
environmental statutes, regulations and litigation; the potential liability
resulting from pending or future litigation; the company's acquisition or
disposition of assets; government-mandated sales, divestitures,
recapitalizations, changes in fiscal terms or restrictions on scope of
company operations; the effects of changed accounting rules under generally
accepted accounting principles promulgated by rule-setting bodies; and the
factors set forth under the heading "Risk Factors" beginning on page 31 of
the company's 2006 Annual Report on Form 10-K. In addition, such statements
could be affected by general domestic and international economic and
political conditions. Unpredictable or unknown factors not discussed in
this presentation could also have material adverse effects on
forward-looking statements.
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rules permit oil and gas
companies to disclose only proved reserves in their filings with the SEC.
Certain terms, such as "resources," "oil-equivalent resources," "oil in
place," "recoverable reserves," and "recoverable resources," among others,
may be used in this press release to describe certain oil and gas
properties that are not permitted to be used in filings with the SEC.
SOURCE Chevron Corporation
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Related links:
http://www.chevron.com/
CONTACT:
Donald Campbell of Chevron Corporation,
+1-925-842-2589
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