By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, May 9 -- ChevronTexaco Corp., which recently announced an agreement to acquire Unocal Corp., has changed its name to Chevron Corp. (OGJ Online, Apr. 4, 2005).
The company's pending $18 billion acquisition of Unocal Corp. is being opposed by a group of US senators who fear what they call "a dangerous level of concentration in the oil industry" (OGJ Online, Apr. 26, 2005).
ChevronTexaco Corp. was formed in 2001 with the merger of Chevron Corp. and Texaco Inc. Chevron formerly was Standard Oil Co. of California (Socal) and prior to that, Pacific Coast Oil Co., which was formed in 1879 upon an oil discovery at Pico Canyon, north of Los Angeles. Chevron acquired Gulf Oil Corp. in 1984 in a $13.2 billion takeover.
Texaco Inc. evolved from The Texas Co., which originally was The Texas Fuel Co. formed in Beaumont, Tex. in 1901 with major oil discoveries in East Texas.
Chevron Corp., based in San Ramon, Calif., currently is the second-largest integrated energy company in the US and the fifth largest in the world, with subsidiaries in 180 countries. In 2004, ChevronTexaco produced more than 2.5 million b/d of oil equivalent, with two thirds of the volume occurring outside the US. The company had global refining capacity of more than 2 million b/d at yearend 2004, a marketing network of 25,700 retail outlets, and interests in 13 power-generating assets.
The company said it will retain its existing products and lubricant brands and "continue to support and expand" its global retail business through the Texaco, Chevron, and Caltex retail brands.