in Zhoushan, China, an important achievement that will help China meet its goal of increasing natural gas in its overall energy mix. In the Permian Basin, Chevron strategically secured pipeline capacity to maximize value in advance of our production ramp-up. 

Our Shipping organization supported the safe and successful delivery of the first modular component to the Future Growth Project in Kazakhstan — a voyage of nearly 17,000 miles. 

Chevron delivered these results in a year characterized by healthy global economic activity and heightened geopolitical tensions. Global liquids demand surpassed 100 million barrels a day for the first time ever. Commodity prices rose during the first nine months of 2018, driven by strong demand, before declining in the last quarter. LNG markets continued to respond to strength in Asian gas demand. The return of U.S. sanctions on Iran, volatility in the Middle East, trade tensions between China and the United States, Russia sanctions, and worsening conditions in Venezuela created further uncertainty for global energy markets. 

Although market conditions may remain volatile, our portfolio is resilient. We are focused on creating value through a disciplined capital program that prioritizes efficient, low-risk, short-cycle investments. Our Upstream portfolio is anchored by large, long-lived assets with low production decline. An efficient, high-return Downstream business complements our Upstream. Across all our business segments, we are accelerating the deployment of digital technologies to improve revenues, reduce costs, increase reliability and improve safety. We are making smart investments and building our company to win in any environment. 

In 2018, we also had our best year ever in health, environment and safety performance, with no fatalities of employees or contractors in any of our operations. We continue to lead the industry in personal safety performance and meet or exceed targets on all core personal safety metrics. This performance is directly related to our strong Operational Excellence culture and an increased focus on safeguard assurance for high-risk work. 

In every instance, Chevron’s performance rests on the strong foundation created by our people and our culture. The environment in which we operate is dynamic. The biggest questions of the future remain unanswered. Our work is complex and demanding. Yet for 140 years, the ingenuity of our people has led to new insights, new discoveries and new innovations. 

This is not a coincidence. Our culture is defined by our values, which emphasize a deep commitment to diversity and inclusion, high performance, innovation, integrity, and trust. This has been part of our DNA for decades. 

To hold ourselves to this high standard — and to ensure an effective approach to human capital management — we regularly seek employee feedback to understand where Chevron is performing well and where we can further improve. Our Board of Directors takes this input seriously — and we act on it. Based on feedback, we are working to Build Our Tomorrow, by putting new digital technologies in the hands of employees, promoting better, faster decision making and revamping