2009



To Our Stockholders 

Since Chevron was founded more than 130 years ago, crude oil, natural gas and other sources of energy have produced an unprecedented rise in living standards for billions of people. Over that time, our company has built an enduring legacy of industry leadership and value for investors while producing the energy that makes our quality of life possible. 

As your Chairman, I’m committed to building on that legacy. It’s an honor to lead Chevron into a future where energy will continue to be a foundation for global economic growth. 

A company’s strategies — and the abilities, values and focus of its people — are tested in tough times. In 2009, the people of Chevron delivered strong results in the face of a global economic downturn and difficult industry conditions. 

We brought major capital projects online or to capacity and achieved industry- leading production growth. We made major new discoveries of crude oil and natural gas and continued to grow our natural gas business. Employees aggressively managed costs, resulting in about a 15 percent decrease in operating expenses over 2008. And we accomplished all this while recording fewer workplace injuries than ever before. 

Our financial performance for 2009 contributed to a strong balance sheet and returns for investors. Total stockholder return — a critical measure of our performance — was No. 1 among our top competitors over the past five years. We increased our annual dividend in 2009 for the 22nd consecutive year. Net income in 2009 was $10.5 billion on sales and other operating revenues of $167 billion, reflecting lower prices from 2008 for crude oil and natural gas and lower sales margins and prices for refined products. Return on capital employed for the year was 10.6 percent. 

We advanced our upstream growth strategy by bringing world-class deepwater projects online, including Tahiti in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, Tombua-Landana offshore Angola and Frade offshore Brazil. Our Tengiz expansion in Kazakhstan and Agbami ramp-ups in Nigeria added significant production volumes. We also achieved impressive results managing our producing crude oil and natural gas assets to limit natural field declines. 

In 2009, we made strong progress toward our goal to build a high-impact, global natural gas business. Construction of the Escravos gas-to-liquids and Angola liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants continued. Offshore Western Australia, we gave the go-ahead for the massive Gorgon LNG project and achieved important commercial milestones for the Wheatstone LNG development. 

We added 1.1 billion barrels of net oil-equivalent proved reserves, replacing 112 percent of net oil-equivalent production in 2009. And we continue to build for our future: Our exploration expertise and applied technology resulted in a drilling success rate of 57 percent, one of the best in the industry. 

The economic environment was challenging for refining and marketing in 2009. To manage our refining and marketing businesses in this environment, we are aggressively controlling costs. Our downstream and chemical businesses continued their strong focus on reliability and safety. Refineries continued