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-containing
fuels are highest in performance.
Next*: Is Downstream Technology
integrated with Upstream in any way?
Krishna: We are now building facilities at
Upstream upgrader production sites that
look more and more like refneries because
the crudes are getting increasingly heavier
and tougher to process. Rather than putting
billions of dollars into building the refneries
for processing those crudes, an option is for
crudes to be upgraded at the production site.
In Canada, the Athabasca Oil Sands
Project uses our LC-FINING technology
to upgrade bitumen from tar sands. In
Venezuela, were looking at converting very
heavy crude oil into a lighter, synthetic
crude. In Nigeria, we are investing in the
Escravos gas-to-liquids plant to convert gas
into a waxy, diffcult-to-transport liquid, and
then use our ISOCRACKING technology to
convert it into gasoline and diesel fuel.
Next*: How do you see Downstream
Technologys role in the future?
Krishna: Well remain focused on devel-
oping and deploying Chevron technology
that enables superior performance. Our
approach to technology is differentiating
Chevron through lower costs, higher value,
improved effciency and better products
for consumers.
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Chevron is gliding ahead in premium base oil production
Leading
the Way
Chevron is expected to double its premium
base oil production after construction is
completed on this new manufacturing facility
in Pascagoula, Mississippi.
Pascagoula Base Oil Project commercial manager. It makes
a much cleaner oil that looks like water, unlike the old tech-
nology that produces an amber or honey-colored oil.
The ISODEWAXING process allows us to signifcantly
increase the production of premium base oil products, gives
us greater fexibility with crude feedstocks, and gives the
consumer higher fuel effciency and lower emissions, said
Barbara Burger, vice president of Supply Chain and Base Oil.
About two-thirds of the worlds premium base oil is manu-
factured with Chevrons ISODEWAXING technology, and the
proportion of premium base oils is expected to grow as new,
all-hydroprocessing plants come on line. Chevron and its joint
venture Chevron Lummus Global have licensed the technol-
ogy to more than 15 base oil plants.
Until now, Chevrons base oil production has been
concentrated in the Richmond plant and in the supply from
Chevrons GS Caltex joint venture in Yeosu, Korea. The
Pascagoula project is intended to roughly double Chevrons
premium base oil production, serving markets in North
America, Latin America and Europe.
The project will beneft both the company and the
community, said Patti Leigh, general manager of Base Oil.
The project will help us expand our business and provide an
enormous boost for the local economy by generating about
1,000 jobs during its construction phase.
About two-thirds of
the worlds premium
base oil is manufac-
tured with Chevrons
ISODEWAXING
technology
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uilding on decades of technological advances, Chevron
is scheduled to become the worlds largest producer
of premium base oil when its new base oil manufactur-
ing facility is completed by year-end 2013 at the Pascagoula,
Mississippi, refnery. The new facility is expected to enable
the company to meet the growing demand for premium base
oil, which higher-performance engines need. Base oils are
the building blocks used to manufacture lubricants, such as
motor oil, for consumer and commercial uses.
The key technology involved in the companys base oil
production is ISODEWAXING technology, which Chevron
invented and began using commercially in 1993. This technol-
ogy enables the removal of essentially all undesirable sulfur
and nitrogen molecules and transforms the waxy molecules
into high-quality base oil. It also reduces the pour point, the
lowest temperature at which a lubricant can fow. As a result,
the ISODEWAXING catalytic process signifcantly increases
the yield of lubricant base oil over solvent dewaxingthe
conventional method for base oil dewaxing at the time
ISODEWAXING was invented.
This technology represented an advance by combining
three steps in base oil productionhydrocracking, catalytic
dewaxing and hydrofnishing.
Hydrocracking applies high temperatures to remove most
of the sulfur and nitrogen. Catalytic dewaxing removes wax
molecules. And hydrofnishing uses sophisticated catalysts to
convert the remaining impurities to stable base oil molecules.
By combining the all-hydroprocessing route and replacing
the catalytic dewaxing step with ISODEWAXING technology,
Chevron also lowered capital and operating costs.
Since the initial invention in 1993, Chevron has commer-
cialized seven more dewaxing catalysts with improved yield
and product quality. Further, the company is a world leader
in hydrofnishing and has commercialized four generations
of hydrofnishing catalysts to improve base oil color and
stability.
This technology took a different path than solvent proc-
essing. Solvent processing ineffciently removes the poor-
performing molecules; hydroprocessing converts those same
molecules into premium-quality base oils, said Doug Bea,
The Pascagoula Refnery in Mississippi is the site of Chevron's new
manufacturing facility for premium base oils, which are the building
blocks for lubricants such as motor oil.
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Securing New
Energy With
Chemical
Fingerprinting
The northwest coast of Australia is home to Chevrons
Wheatstone Project, which will process natural gas from felds
offshore Western Australia.
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xploring the globe for natural gas and crude oil,
geologists have long relied on seismic waves and
fossils for clues. Now, Chevrons earth detectives are
also reading the rocks with chemical fngerprinting to help
ensure that major new projects in Australia and the Middle
East produce as much energy as possible.
Rocks are made of minerals, and minerals are made
of elements, explained Paul Montgomery, a Chevron
geologist and expert in chemostratigraphy, which uses
laser mass spectrometry to scan tiny rock samples for
traces of 50 elementslithium, argon, iridium, xenon and
others. It helps us correlate oil and gas reservoirs across
hundreds of kilometers, he said. We can better under-
stand what we might fnd when drilling in any direction and
how the reservoirs will behave and express themselves.
When integrated with other techniques for interpreting
the subsurface, chemostratigraphy is an especially valued
tool for understanding the disjointed stacks of gas-rich
sandstones discovered by Chevron in the mighty Mungaroo
Formation beneath the Indian Ocean off northwestern
Australia. Tapping this resource, the Chevron-led Gorgon
and Wheatstone projects are expected to provide future
supplies of liquefed natural gas to help meet fast-rising
Asia-Pacifc demand for cleaner energy.
Using chemostratigraphy to uncover traces of
50 elements in tiny rock samples, Chevron better
interprets geology to fnd more oil and gas
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Much more than elsewhere, Chevron needs chemo-
stratigraphy to optimize Gorgon and Wheatstone, two of
Australias largest-ever industrial projects, forecast to
cost $66 billion. Because for all its potential, the complex
Mungaroo Formation lacks good fossil markers. Geologic
correlation here is like trying to picture an entire castle
from a single room, said Montgomery.
Also, seismic surveys yield imperfect information on how
the reservoirs are connected. Chemostratigraphic techniques
can greatly enhance our understanding, said Montgomery.
Its absolutely critical to the long-term performance of these
deepwater gas felds that we drill just the right number of
very large wells at precise locations and depths. We need
these wells to run great for 30 years.
Chemostratigraphy also provided new insights on
the mammoth First Eocene oil reservoir at Wafra in the
Partitioned Zone between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, where
Chevron is targeting 6 billion barrels of potentially recov-
erable oil with steam-injection technology. Chemical
fngerprinting helped confrm a geologic profle built from
alternative data, demonstrating that chemostratigraphy,
coupled with other techniques, can provide the detailed strati-
graphic correlation needed for a successful Wafra steamfood.
In the United States and Eastern Europe, chemostratigra-
phy will help Chevron develop new supplies of gas from shale,
which is diffcult to analyze using fossils. Oil and gas projects
in Angola, the U.K. Atlantic Margin and other locations have
also benefted, said Montgomery. Everywhere weve used
this technology, it has added to our success.
Mapping geology with mineral clues such as color isnt
new, but in the past decade, better, faster spectrometry has
made chemostratigraphy a more accessible and affordable
tool, said Montgomery. Still, the surveys require months of
work on drilling rigs, in laboratories and in technical centers
where geoscientists interpret the mineral DNA.
A recent, major survey for Gorgon, for example, collected
and scanned some 1,500 samples from eight wellsa total
of 75,000 element profles. Chemostrat Ltd. analyzed the
samples for Chevron by sampling tiny rock cuttings brought
up from different depths during drilling.
Technicians painstakingly labeled, sorted, washed,
crushed and heated the samples for the laser spectrom-
eter, which measures light wavelengths to reveal the varied
chemical personalities of different rock layers. The result:
nine chemostratigraphic packages, 22 geochemical units and
19 sand units to help Chevron geoscientists map 30 million
years of depositional history from prehistoric rivers during
the Triassic Period, about 200 million years ago.
In this lost world, sand, silt and organic matter accu-
mulated in channels and deltas across a steamy, sprawling
landscape now buried thousands of meters beneath the
ocean foor. Shales leaked hydrocarbons into the
Mungaroos sandstone sandwich, and huge blocks slid
up and down, creating a formidable puzzle of fault blocks
and pinched-out layers.
Fortunately, Mother Nature left her chemical fngerprints
to help Chevron best develop a vast storehouse of Australian
gasand no doubt, many other energy treasures ahead.
Sandstone and shale cores from the Mungaroo Formation beneath
the Australian North West Shelf, such as the Orthrus-2 core section
seen below, help reveal the location and characterization of oil and
gas reservoirs.
Australia Update
Wheatstones neighbor Gorgon is a powerhouse
of activity and development.
For updates on Wheatstone and Gorgon, visit ChevronAustralia.com.
Marine biologists, such as Anthony Bougher, seen here, conduct
intertidal surveys in the Indian Ocean adjacent to the site of Chevrons
Wheatstone Project. P
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The complex Mungaroo Formation lacks good fossil markers.
Geologic correlation here is like trying to picture an entire
castle from within a single room. Paul Montgomery, Chevron geologist
F
ar off the steaming coast of West
Africa, nearly a mile (1.6 km) down
in the Gulf of Guinea, a boxy, deep-
sea vehicle cradling a 100-pound
(45.4-kg) node stuffed with instruments
hums through the blackness.
The remotely operated vehicle (ROV)
safely avoids the huge processing facility,
seafoor wells, fow-line tentacles and other
equipment at the Agbami Field, a Chevron-
operated technological titan capable of
producing 250,000 barrels of oil per day.
The ROV places the node on the bot-
tom and deftly plugs the units package of
listening devices into the seabed. Hundreds
more follow, 984 to 1,312 feet (300400 m)
apart, forming a vast grid to record two
months or more of seismic-refection data.
Then one by one, the nodes are retrieved
and brought to the surface to download
their data.
Logistically challenging but rich with
potential, ocean-bottom-node (OBN) sur-
veys are helping Chevron better understand
its oil and natural gas reservoirsespecially
the complex and hardest-to-map forma-
tions in deep water. OBNs hold promise for
Chevron seismic specialist Sarah Cooke sees the potential of using ocean-bottom nodes (like the one
shown) to collect data.
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improving four-dimensional, or 4-D, time-
lapse seismic surveys.
This is a really cool technology, said
Sarah Cooke, a seismic specialist with
Chevron in Houston. The improved 4-D
shows us how fuids move within the rock
and reveals oil and gas weve missed. And
watching how reservoirs change during
production will show us where to place
future wells.
Cooke sees OBN as a rising star in
energy supply security as the world relies
more on oil and gas from deepwater felds.
Worldwide deepwater output of oil and
petroleum liquids roughly tripled in the past
decade to about 6 million barrels per day
and could reach 10 million barrels by 2020,
about 10 percent of world supply, according
to Wood Mackenzie, an energy research and
consulting company. Chevron, with part-
ners, explores and operates in deep water
in nearly a dozen countries, with billions of
dollars in new projects planned or under
construction.
Teaming with SeaBird Exploration,
Chevron has also used OBN to better
delineate the Rosebank oil discovery in
the remote Atlantic Margin of the United
Kingdom. Knowing the deepwater felds
precise anatomy beneath layers of volcanic
basaltwhich strongly attenuates most
seismic frequenciesis key to deciding how
best to develop Rosebank, which may begin
its front-end engineering design in late 2012.
For Agbami in 2010, SeaBird used 660
nodes at more than 1,500 points across
370 square miles (600 sq km) of ocean
bottom in the worlds largest OBN sur-
vey. In 2013, the nodes should be back,
providing a fresh picture to help optimize
Agbamis development.
The Agbami job brought Chevron to the
forefront in the feld of global OBN survey-
ing, said Ken Sample, director of Deepwater
Assets and Production Sharing Contracts.
Of course, oil companies since the early
20th century have been bouncing sound
off the earths crust to pinpoint targets for
exploratory drilling. Later, geoscientists
began using seismic data to better map
discovered reservoirs. OBNs may raise
seismic to a new level with safer opera-
tions, better image detail and improved
4-D repeatability, said Cooke.
Nodes can be safely placed next to
production facilities, removing the hazard
of towing long streamers holding thousands
of seismic sensors through busy areas.
Stable, closer to the reservoir and unfazed
by currents and water noise, nodes also
greatly enhance all-azimuth and wide-
azimuth surveys, shot to reveal areas of
oil and gas beneath salt domes, basalt and
other geologic barriers, said Cooke. OBN
lets us do in deep water what we previously
could do only on land.
But its the repeatability factor that
Cooke fnds most promising. Four-D
requires a baseline survey, then an identi-
cal monitor survey a couple of years later.
Its virtually impossible to perfectly repeat
source and receiver geometry in a towed-
streamer survey, but OBN monitor surveys
can place nodes in almost exactly the same
spots as baseline grids, thereby achieving
receiver repeatability. The resulting gains
in precision and clarity are already helping
the world make the most of its deepwater
energy resources.
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View From the
Four-dimensional seismic surveys with ocean-bottom nodes are
sharpening Chevrons view of remote, deepwater oil and gas resources,
revealing how reservoirs change during production
bottom
Land of the Sun
Chevron invests in research in Qatar to fnd region-specifc solar
technologies and improve energy effciency
Summer in Qatar:
Temperatures can reach
as high as 135 degrees
Fahrenheit (57 C).
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olar energy is both elegantly simple and
fendishly complex. On the surface it looks
as easy as placing photovoltaic (PV) panels in
the sun, wiring them up and enjoying endless
electricity. But in reality it takes highly trained
experts to design and build solar systems,
and there are hundreds of technologies and
products from which to choose.
In addition, a PV panels effciency is infu-
enced by the local climate. Even modest solar
power plants can cost tens of millions of dol-
lars, so planners must be certain that a panel
will perform well in real-world conditions.
This is especially important in the Middle
East. Most PV panels are designed and
installed in places with mild climates, such as
Europe, Japan and the United States. But in
countries like Qatar, where summer tempera-
tures regularly exceed 110 degrees Fahrenheit
(43 C) and can reach as high as 135 degrees
(57 C), there is scant rain to wash off the
dust from the panels, and counterintuitively,
PV cells actually perform worse as they
get hotter.
As part of Chevrons fve-year commit-
ment to the Qatar Science & Technology
Park (QSTP), the company is investing
$10 million in the Center for Sustainable
Energy Effciency (CSEE), which opened in
March 2011. Chevron also is establishing a
solar test facility at QSTP in collaboration
with GreenGulf Inc., a Qatari clean technology
and renewable energy company. The $20 mil-
lion facility, in which Chevron and GreenGulf
A Solar System for Qatar
Qatars climate presents special challenges
for solar panels, but Chevron and its partners
are testing ways to improve performance.
Explore Qatar and Chevrons projects in the country
at Chevron.com/Next/CSEE.
At Chevrons Center for Sustainable Energy Effciency in Qatar, Abdalla Al-Qatami
(left) and Chevron energy engineer Amer Al-Rayahi explore an interactive exhibit:
the color mixer. The mixer demonstrates the results in the color spectrum of the
different temperatures of light, shown as combinations of red, green and blue. The
intersection of these colors creates new secondary colors, while the combination
of all three creates white.
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are investing up to $10 million each, is
planned on a 9-acre (3.5-ha) site equipped
to test dozens of solar technologies from all
over the world.
The technologies being studied include
photovoltaic solar, by which semiconductors
convert sunlight directly to electricity, and
concentrated solar and solar thermal, which
capture and use the heat of the suns rays.
The results of the tests here can help
determine the most appropriate solar tech-
nologies for the region.
Tidu Maini, Ph.D., executive chairman of
QSTP, said that environmental factors, such
as high humidity, high heat and excessive
dust, are the main challenges that affect
performance. For example, dust accumulated
on photovoltaic panels after six months in the
Middle East can reduce their effectiveness by
40 percent.
In addition to solar power, Chevron
expects to identify commercially available
and near-to-market technologies in solar air
conditioning, solar desalination and energy-
effcient lighting that work well in the regions
desert climate.
In Qatar, air conditioning can account
for more than 60 percent of electricity use.
Solar could be used at peak times in summer
when the energy load for air conditioning is
highest. At QSTP, Chevron plans to operate
and study a state-of-the-art solar air condi-
tioning system that uses the suns heat rather
than electricity to drive a refrigeration cycle.
Guiding these activities is Chevron Energy
Solutions, among the largest installers of
solar energy and energy effciency solu-
tions for school districts, universities and
other public sector institutions in the United
States. Through its technology development
partnerships, Chevron Energy Solutions is
at the forefront of energy-effcient lighting
technology and its commercialization, and the
company stands out for its unique ability to
deliver comprehensive, economic solutions
that provide long-term savings for its custom-
ers. Company experts have been working
onsite at the CSEE, lending their extensive
knowledge of solar and effciency systems
to help establish the new facilities in Qatar.
The Doha skyline at night. Chevrons commitments in Qatar include testing the
performance of solar energy for power, air conditioning and lighting.
Chevron solar construction project manager Jeff Muoz (left) and energy
engineer Amer Al-Rayahi study the newly installed solar panels at the Qatar
Science & Technology Park. The 9-acre (3.5-ha) solar installation is a collaboration
between Chevron and GreenGulf Inc., a Qatari clean technology and renewable
energy company.
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The test facility in Qatar is an exciting
opportunity to apply the broad and deep
understanding of solar energy that our
company is known for in the United States,
said Chevron Energy Solutions President
Jim Davis. Our experience in engineering
and building solar systems gives us a distinct
advantage in completing the QSTP project.
Carl Atallah, Chevrons country manager
in Qatar, said, The solar test facility in Qatar
complements similar Chevron facilities in
California and New Mexico, providing us with
the opportunity to test the performance of
various solar technologies in widely different
environments. We are proud to take a lead
technical role in this study on sustainable
energy.
Amer Al-Rayahi and Jeff Muoz observe a solar panel showing the effects of solar angles that
are created by such conditions as time of day and seasonality on energy output.
The Energy Effciency Experience
A highlight of Chevrons Center for Sustainable Energy Effciency (CSEE) at
the Qatar Science & Technology Park is the visitors center, where guests,
through interactive displays, can learn about and experience next-generation
lighting, solar technologies and energy effciency.
Along with the goal of identifying solar power, solar air conditioning and
low-energy lighting technologies best suited for Qatars climate, the Chevron
CSEE conducts seminars and workshops on sustainable energy designed for
a variety of audiences, including industry professionals, researchers and
students, and the general public.
Students and the public can visit the education center to learn about
solar power and ways to reduce energy consumption. Engineering students
are receiving training and internships. And municipal planners, property
developers, engineers and architects can obtain detailed information on the
performance of solar and effciency technologies and consider implementing
these green building technologies in their construction.
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Top left: Sydney Bowles, a geology
intern, observes a nuclear energy
display at the Houston Museum of
Natural Science in Texas. Top right:
LeKendra Fusilier, who is majoring in
petroleum engineering, works on the
integration of information technology
with oil and gas disciplines. Left:
Ph.D. candidates Ernesto Valbuena
and Chukwudi Chukwudozie, who
work on reservoir simulation models,
attend a program for interns at the
Houston Museum of Natural Science.
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Another important ingredient: collaboration.
That goes back to our cultureand its an
aspect the interns appreciate, said Holden.
That sentiment recurs in conversations
with current interns. The main beneft of
this program is that I can learn a lot from
my mentor and co-workers, said Qi Ren, a
Chinese Ph.D. student in geophysics at the
University of Texas. This internship will
give me a cue about the direction of my own
research on campus.
LeKendra Fusilier, who is majoring in
petroleum engineering at Louisiana State
University, is focusing her internship on
learning to become a digital engineer. It
combines information technology with oil
and gas disciplines, she said, and its going
to be extremely benefcial in coming years
because everything is turning much more
technical.
Sydney Bowles, a student of geology at
Louisiana State University who did her feld
work in New Zealand, is learning new things
such as interpreting well logs and evaluating
feldsthat are giving her frsthand experi-
ence of what it will be like to work full time in
the industry.
And Ernesto Valbuena, a Venezuelan Ph.D.
candidate at Texas A&M University, is working
on software packages that will provide more
knowledge about the most effcient ways to
apply our technology in reservoir simulators
and surface network integration.
In addition to providing the interns with a
rich experience and adding value to the busi-
ness, these internships enable the students
to evaluate Chevron, and to be evaluated as
potential future employees. Based on the
high rate of job offers that have grown out of
the program, the process is working well.
Hands-On Experience for
Summer Interns
Chevrons internship program broadens
access to talented students in technology felds
C
hevrons summer intern program for
students in technology-related felds is
a two-way street. The students gain access
to seasoned, knowledgeable mentors and
supervisors; real-world experience; network-
ing opportunities; and often, at the end of
the internship, a job offer. Chevron, in turn,
gains exposure to talented young people with
backgrounds currently in great demand, such
as petroleum engineering and earth science.
And theres more. These young interns
often come up with fresh ideas and perspec-
tives that impress our senior people and
spread through our enterprise, said Tiffani
Vashaw, with Chevron Human Resources.
Most of the interns are assigned to
specifc projects that give them an opportu-
nity to get their hands dirty while working
at a well site or drill rig or other facility,
Vashaw continued.
Wherever the interns are assigned,
most of them complete their internships by
presenting well-considered, detailed reports.
Doug Holden, a Chevron organizational
change advisor, provided examples. Last
year, a petroleum engineering intern did
reservoir modeling of a quality that is typi-
cally seen coming only from employees with
three to four years experience, he said,
and an earth science intern impressed
everyone by doing the complete subsurface
mapping of a feld in our Appalachian/
Michigan operations.
This hands-on experience is a distinguish-
ing feature of the Chevron intern program.
Cautionary Statement Relevant to Forward-Looking Information for the Purpose of Safe Harbor Provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
This publication of Chevron Corporation contains forward-looking statements relating to Chevrons operations that are based on managements current expectations, estimates and projections about the petroleum, chemicals and other energy-related industries. Words such as
anticipates, expects, intends, plans, targets, forecasts, projects, believes, seeks, schedules, estimates, budgets, outlooks 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 the companys control and are diffcult 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 publication. 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: changing crude oil and natural gas prices; changing refning, marketing and chemical margins; actions of competitors or regulators; timing of explora-
tion expenses; timing of crude oil liftings; the competitiveness of alternate-energy sources or product substitutes; technological developments; the results of operations and fnancial condition of equity affliates; the inability or failure of the companys 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 startup of planned projects; the potential
disruption or interruption of the companys 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 the Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Countries; the potential liability for remedial actions or assessments under existing or future environmental regulations and litigation; signifcant investment or product changes under existing or future environmental statutes, regulations and litigation; the potential liabil-
ity resulting from other pending or future litigation; the companys future acquisition or disposition of assets and gains and losses from asset dispositions or impairments; government-mandated sales, divestitures, recapitalizations, industry-specifc taxes, changes in fscal terms
or restrictions on the scope of company operations; foreign currency movements compared with the U.S. dollar; 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 on pages 29 through 31 of the companys 2011 Annual Report on Form 10-K. In addition, such results could be affected by general domestic and international economic and political conditions. Other unpredictable or unknown factors not discussed in this publication
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 flings with the SEC. Certain terms, such as probable or possible reserves, potential or recoverable volumes, resources, and crude oil in place,
among others used in this publication, may not be permitted to be included in documents fled with the SEC. U.S. investors should refer to disclosures in Chevrons Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2011.
W
ith vital right-of-way permits approved by the Democratic
Republic of the Congo, Chevron is moving ahead on its Congo
River Crossing Pipeline project to bring gas from Angola Blocks 0 and
14 to ALNG, Angolas frst liquefed natural gas plant. The offshore and
onshore pipeline will be approximately 87 miles (140 km) long and is
designed to transport up to 250 million cubic feet per day of natural gas.
The most technically challenging aspect of the project is crossing
the Congo River Canyon. This submarine canyon, the worlds largest,
was carved into the seabed by the Congo River, which discharges into
the Atlantic Ocean. The canyon extends 470 miles (760 km) out to sea.
To cross the canyon, two wellbores will be drilled simultaneously
from shallow water platforms located on each side of the canyon. The
wellbores will transition from vertical to horizontal, and will intersect
almost midway beneath the canyon, where the maximum water depth
at the crossing is one-half mile (0.8 km) and the intersection approxi-
mately 2,000 feet (610 m) beneath that.
An additional challenge for the project team will be to successfully
install the two platforms in an area just offshore of the Congo River,
where currents routinely run approximately 6 knots.
Crossing the Canyon
Chevron solves a technical challenge to
move natural gas from Angola under
the Congo River
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