Chevrontexaco Corp

Kern County prosecutors are suing ChevronTexaco Corp. for allegedly dumping water contaminated with the gasoline additive MTBE into an oil field. The district attorney's office, which filed the lawsuit Tuesday, is seeking $4.7 million in penalties. The lawsuit alleges that the company engaged in unfair business practices when it disposed of more than 4 million gallons of MTBE-tainted water. The water was trucked in from Cambria from November 2000 to April 2002.

This town of 6,700 sits amid the richest oil fields in California, but nobody would mistake it for Dubai. There are no gleaming towers. Empty storefronts line its downtown streets. One of its two car dealerships recently folded, and a church recently went into foreclosure. To make more money, the city wants to move its eastern border 17 miles and annex an auto raceway under construction beside Interstate 5.

ChevronTexaco Corp. sought the dismissal of a claim to pay as much as $1 billion to clean up environmental damage to the Amazon as a court in Ecuador took up the case. The company is accused by 46 Ecuadoreans of dumping about 18 billion gallons of toxic petroleum byproducts during drilling and exploration in the rain forest from 1971 to the early 1990s. Legal representatives for the San Ramon, Calif.-based company appeared before a judge in Lago Agrio to ask that the case be dismissed. The U.S.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear appeals by units of Royal Dutch/Shell Group and Chevron Corp. in a case that might limit price-fixing lawsuits against joint ventures. The companies want the court to block a lawsuit accusing them of using two joint ventures -- which were formed in 1998 and merged the retail and refinery businesses of Shell Oil Co. and Texaco Inc. -- to illegally raise prices charged to service stations. The U.S.

Royal Dutch/Shell Group and Saudi Refining Inc. agreed to pay $2.26 billion for ChevronTexaco Corp.'s stakes in two refining ventures, making Shell the biggest U.S. fuel retailer in the U.S. ChevronTexaco put the stakes into a trust in October as part of a settlement with U.S. regulators that allowed Chevron Corp. to buy Texaco Inc. and become the No. 2 U.S. oil company. Shell and Saudi Refining will pay $2.26 billion in cash and assume about $1.6 billion in debt, Shell said.

ChevronTexaco Corp., the second-biggest U.S. oil company, said Friday that fourth-quarter production fell 8.3% more than previously forecast after Hurricane Ivan wrecked platforms and pipelines in the Gulf of Mexico in September. Damage from the mid-September storm reduced oil and natural gas output by the equivalent of 65,000 barrels a day during the quarter, the San Ramon, Calif.-based company said. ChevronTexaco had estimated a 60,000-barrel decline.

ChevronTexaco Corp. and troubled energy firm Dynegy Inc. announced a restructuring deal Tuesday that would help ease Dynegy's debt woes and allow the oil company to recoup some cash from its investment in the firm. Under the tentative agreement, which was part of a wide-ranging debt restructuring plan unveiled by Dynegy, the Houston-based power and gas company would refinance $1.5 billion in convertible preferred shares held by ChevronTexaco since late 2001. San Ramon, Calif.

ChevronTexaco Corp. reported Tuesday that second-quarter net income fell 81% because of lower oil and gasoline prices as well as the San Francisco oil giant's soured investment in Dynegy Inc. Net income fell to $407 million, or 39 cents a share, compared with the combined $2.11 billion, or $1.99 a share, that Chevron and Texaco earned in the same quarter last year. Second-quarter revenue fell 13% to $25.2 billion.

ChevronTexaco Corp.'s $16.4-billion plan to acquire Unocal Corp. includes a $500-million breakup fee if the transaction is canceled. A Securities and Exchange Commission filing by San Ramon, Calif.-based ChevronTexaco disclosed details of the termination fee it would be paid. The deal was announced Monday.

ChevronTexaco Corp. said it planned to raise capital spending 18% next year, investing heavily in West Africa and the Gulf of Mexico. At its annual meeting with analysts in New York, the San Ramon, Calif.-based company said it would invest $10 billion in its capital and exploratory spending program next year, up $1.5 billion from this year, largely because several big projects were at a stage that required heavy expenditures. ChevronTexaco shares fell 57 cents to $53.

ChevronTexaco Corp., the second-biggest U.S. oil company, shortened its name Monday to Chevron Corp., reverting to the title used before the company's $39-billion acquisition of Texaco Inc. in October 2001. Chief Executive David O'Reilly said the name change would "present a clear, strong and unified presence in the global marketplace." The company agreed April 4 to acquire El Segundo-based Unocal Corp. for $16.

ChevronTexaco Corp.'s Nigerian subsidiary said Tuesday that it would overhaul its aid projects in the country's oil-rich south after finding that much of the tens of millions of dollars spent yearly was fueling violence or being wasted by corruption. The San Ramon, Calif.-based company, the third-largest oil producer in OPEC member Nigeria, said its projects had stoked resentment in some communities, contributing to unrest that had cost the company more than $500 million.

Odd as it sounds, the U.S. arm of ChevronTexaco Corp. is getting back into the business of Texaco. The Texaco brand of gasoline had withered in the U.S. market since 2001, when Chevron Corp. bought Texaco Inc. for $39 billion. To get their merger cleared by antitrust authorities, the companies sold exclusive rights to the Texaco brand for three years to a group led by the Shell division of Royal Dutch/Shell Group. There were about 12,800 Texaco stations in the U.S.

Despite record-high fuel prices, ChevronTexaco Corp. on Friday reported weaker-than-expected first-quarter profit partly because of maintenance costs at its three major U.S. refineries. Still, earnings at the second-largest U.S. oil company rose nearly 4% compared with a year earlier as big gains from oil and natural gas sales and from its petrochemical business fueled ChevronTexaco's 10th straight quarter of rising profit. "Quarterly profits ...

Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) urged the Federal Trade Commission to block ChevronTexaco Corp.'s $16.4-billion purchase of Unocal Corp. and joined nine other senators, including California Democrat Barbara Boxer, in asking the FTC to carefully review the combination. The senators said they were concerned the deal would reduce competition. Spokesmen for San Ramon, Calif.

Edison Mission Energy, a subsidiary of Rosemead-based Edison International, said it would receive $210 million in payments stemming from a dispute with a TXU Corp. subsidiary that defaulted on an agreement to buy electricity from Edison Mission. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Edison Mission estimated that the payments would increase net income by $90 million. * ChevronTexaco Corp. awarded a $1.

Edison Mission Energy, a subsidiary of Rosemead-based Edison International, said it would receive $210 million in payments stemming from a dispute with a TXU Corp. subsidiary that defaulted on an agreement to buy electricity from Edison Mission. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Edison Mission estimated that the payments would increase net income by $90 million. * ChevronTexaco Corp. awarded a $1.

ChevronTexaco Corp.'s $16.4-billion plan to acquire Unocal Corp. includes a $500-million breakup fee if the transaction is canceled. A Securities and Exchange Commission filing by San Ramon, Calif.-based ChevronTexaco disclosed details of the termination fee it would be paid. The deal was announced Monday.

A Unocal Corp. stockholder filed suit against the El Segundo-based oil company, alleging that Unocal's agreement to be acquired by ChevronTexaco Corp. was unfair to Unocal's investors. Unocal agreed Monday to be bought for cash and ChevronTexaco stock totaling $16.4 billion, or about $62 a share. Unocal's stock closed at $64.35 on Friday, then fell to $59.60 a share on the New York Stock Exchange after the deal was announced.