settlement is final. The federal district prosecutor also filed criminal charges against Chevron and eleven Chevron employees. On February 19, 2013, the court dismissed the criminal matter, and on appeal, the appellate court reinstated two of the ten allegations, specifically those charges alleging environmental damage and failure to provide timely notification to authorities. The company is assessing its legal options. The company’s ultimate exposure related to the incident is not currently determinable, but could be significant to net income in any one period.

Downstream Earnings for the downstream segment are closely tied to margins on the refining, manufacturing and marketing of products that include gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, lubricants, fuel oil, fuel and lubricant additives, and petrochemicals. Industry margins are sometimes volatile and can be affected by the global and regional supply-and-demand balance for refined products and petrochemicals and by changes in the price of crude oil, other refinery and petrochemical feedstocks, and natural gas. Industry margins can also be influenced by inventory levels, geopolitical events, costs of materials and services, refinery or chemical plant capacity utilization, maintenance programs, and disruptions at refineries or chemical plants resulting from unplanned outages due to severe weather, fires or other operational events.

Other factors affecting profitability for downstream operations include the reliability and efficiency of the company’s refining, marketing and petrochemical assets, the effectiveness of its crude oil and product supply functions, and the volatility of tanker-charter rates for the company’s shipping operations, which are driven by the industry’s demand for crude oil and product tankers. Other factors beyond the company’s control include the general level of inflation and energy costs to operate the company’s refining, marketing and petrochemical assets.

The company’s most significant marketing areas are the West Coast of North America, the U.S. Gulf Coast, Asia and southern Africa. Chevron operates or has significant ownership interests in refineries in each of these areas.

Refer to the “Results of Operations” section on pages FS-6 through FS-8 for additional discussion of the company’s downstream operations.

All Other consists of mining operations, power and energy services, worldwide cash management and debt financing activities, corporate administrative functions, insurance operations, real estate activities, alternative fuels, and technology companies.

Operating Developments

Key operating developments and other events during 2013 and early 2014 included the following:

Upstream

Angola First shipment of liquefied natural gas was made from the Angola LNG project.

Argentina Signed agreements advancing the Loma Compana Project to develop the Vaca Muerta Shale.

Australia Signed binding long-term LNG Sales and Purchase Agreements with two Asian customers. Binding long-term agreements now cover approximately 85 percent of Chevron’s equity LNG offtake from the Wheatstone Project.

Announced two natural gas discoveries in the Carnarvon Basin. These include