compared with $31.5 billion in 2014 and $35.0 billion in 2013. Cash provided by operating activities was net of contributions to employee pension plans of approximately $0.9 billion, $0.4 billion and $1.2 billion in 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively. Cash provided by investing activities included proceeds and deposits related to asset sales of $5.7 billion in 2015, $5.7 billion in 2014, and $1.1 billion in 2013.

Restricted cash of $1.1 billion and $1.5 billion at December 31, 2015 and 2014, 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, and funds held in escrow for tax-deferred exchanges and asset acquisitions and divestitures.

Dividends Dividends paid to common stockholders were $8.0 billion in 2015, $7.9 billion in 2014 and $7.5 billion in 2013.

Debt and Capital Lease Obligations Total debt and capital lease obligations were $38.6 billion at December 31, 2015, up from $27.8 billion at year-end 2014.

The $10.8 billion increase in total debt and capital lease obligations during 2015 was primarily due to funding the company’s capital investment program, which included several large projects in the construction phase. The company completed bond issuances of $6 billion and $5 billion in March and November 2015, respectively. 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 $12.9 billion at December 31, 2015, compared with $11.8 billion at year-end 2014. Of these amounts, $8.0 billion was reclassified to long-term at the end of both periods. At year-end 2015, settlement of these obligations was not expected to require the use of working capital in 2016, 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. In February 2016, Standard & Poor's Corporation changed its rating for these securities from AA to AA-. These securities are rated Aa1 by Moody’s Investors Service. The company’s U.S. commercial paper is rated A-1+ by Standard & Poor’s and P-l 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