Chevron Corp. : No. 1 on the Sales 100

Chevron Corp., the Times 100 sales leader, is one of the top integrated energy companies in the world and the state’s largest refiner of petroleum products.

Its earnings from refining and marketing of gasoline and other products should improve this year, and not just because of the highest gasoline prices since the Persian Gulf War.

The company just completed major overhauls of its two principal refineries in California, at El Segundo and Richmond, in part to meet new state requirements to produce cleaner burning gasolines, and also to cuts costs and boost production.

Also in 1995, Chevron began selling off 40,000 acres of its remaining state real estate properties, with tracts in Huntington Beach, La Jolla and Ontario, and including woodlands in what will become the Santa Clarita Woodlands Park. Chevron said it wants to concentrate on its oil and gas business.

But the big news is on the international front. Salomon Bros. estimates growth of foriegn oil production of 5% per year through 2000, and foreign natural gas production of 10% a year.

The long-stalled effort to produce oil from the massive Tengiz oil field in Kazakhstan shows signs of moving forward. Most recently, Russia, Kazakhstan and Oman will offer a half stake in a necessary $1.2 billion pipeline to other oil firms, allowing the project to move ahead.

Chevron reported net income of of $616 million in the first quarter, up from $459 million a year earlier.