to other markets where greater demand results in higher prices. International natural-gas realizations averaged about $4.00 per MCF during 2009, compared with about $5.20 per MCF during 2008. Unlike prior years, these realizations compared favorably with those in the United States during 2009, primarily as a result of the deterioration of U.S. supply-and-demand conditions resulting from the economic slowdown. (See page FS-10 for the company’s average natural gas realizations for the U.S. and international regions.)

     The company’s worldwide net oil-equivalent production in 2009 averaged 2.70 million barrels per day. About one-fifth of the company’s net oil-equivalent production in 2009 occurred in the OPEC-member countries of Angola, Nigeria and Venezuela and in the Partitioned Zone between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. For the year 2009, the company’s net oil production was reduced by an average of 20,000 barrels per day due to quotas imposed by OPEC. All of the imposed curtailments took place during the first half of the year. At the December 2009 meeting, members of OPEC supported maintaining production quotas in effect since December 2008.

     The company estimates that oil-equivalent production in 2010 will average approximately 2.73 million barrels per day. This estimate is subject to many factors and uncertainties, including additional quotas that may be imposed by OPEC, price effects on production volumes calculated under cost-recovery and variable-royalty provisions of certain contracts, changes in fiscal terms or restrictions on the scope of company operations, delays in project startups, fluctuations in demand for natural gas in various markets, weather conditions that may shut in production, civil unrest, changing geopolitics, or other disruptions to operations. The outlook for future production levels is also affected by the size and number of economic investment opportunities and, for new large-scale projects, the time lag between initial exploration and the beginning of production. Investments in upstream projects generally begin well in advance of the start of the associated crude-oil and natural-gas production. A significant majority of Chevron’s upstream investment is made outside the United States.

     Refer to the “Results of Operations” section on pages FS-6 through FS-7 for additional discussion of the company’s upstream business.

     Refer to Table V beginning on page FS-69 for a tabulation of the company’s proved net oil and gas reserves by geographic area, at the beginning of 2007 and each year-end from 2007 through 2009, and an accompanying discussion of major changes to proved reserves by geographic area for the three-year period ending December 31, 2009.

     Downstream Earnings for the downstream segment are closely tied to margins on the refining and marketing of products that include gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, lubricants, fuel oil and feedstocks for chemical manufacturing. Industry margins are sometimes volatile and can be affected by the global and regionalsupply-and-demand balance for refined products and by changes in the price of crude oil used for refinery feedstock. Industry margins can also be