Cash provided by operating activities was net of contributions to employee pension plans of approximately $1.0 billion in 2017 and $0.9 billion in both 2016 and 2015. Cash provided by investing activities included proceeds and deposits related to asset sales of $5.2 billion in 2017, $2.8 billion in 2016, and $5.7 billion in 2015.

Restricted cash of $1.1 billion and $1.4 billion at December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively, was held in cash and short-term marketable securities and recorded as “Deferred charges and other assets” on the Consolidated Balance Sheet. These amounts are generally associated with upstream abandonment activities, tax payments, funds held in escrow for tax-deferred exchanges and refundable deposits related to pending asset sales.

Dividends Dividends paid to common stockholders were $8.1 billion in 2017, $8.0 billion in 2016 and $8.0 billion in 2015.

Debt and Capital Lease Obligations Total debt and capital lease obligations were $38.8 billion at December 31, 2017, down from $46.1 billion at year-end 2016.

The $7.3 billion decrease in total debt and capital lease obligations during 2017 was primarily due to a decrease in short-term obligations reflecting higher crude oil prices. The company completed a bond issuance of $4.0 billion in first quarter 2017 and repaid long-term notes totaling $6.2 billion that matured in February, November and December 2017. The company’s debt and capital lease obligations due within one year, consisting primarily of commercial paper, redeemable long-term obligations and the current portion of long-term debt, totaled $15.2 billion at December 31, 2017, compared with $19.8 billion at year-end 2016. Of these amounts, $10.0 billion and $9.0 billion were reclassified to long-term debt at the end of 2017 and 2016, respectively.

At year-end 2017, settlement of these obligations was not expected to require the use of working capital in 2018, as the company had the intent and the ability, as evidenced by committed credit facilities, to refinance them on a long-term basis.

Chevron has an automatic shelf registration statement that expires in August 2018 for an unspecified amount of nonconvertible debt securities issued or guaranteed by the company.

The major debt rating agencies routinely evaluate the company’s debt, and the company’s cost of borrowing can increase or decrease depending on these debt ratings. The company has outstanding public bonds issued by Chevron Corporation and Texaco Capital Inc. All of these securities are the obligations of, or guaranteed by, Chevron Corporation and are rated AA- by Standard and Poor’s Corporation and Aa2 by Moody’s Investors Service. The company’s U.S. commercial paper is rated A-1+ by Standard and Poor’s and P-1 by Moody’s. All of these ratings denote high-quality, investment-grade securities.

The company’s future debt level is dependent primarily on results of operations, the capital program and cash that may be generated from asset dispositions. Based on its high-quality debt ratings, the company believes that it has substantial borrowing capacity to meet unanticipated cash requirements. During extended periods of low prices for crude oil and