Accounting Policies (Policies)

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2016

Accounting Policies [Abstract]

Segment Reporting

Although each subsidiary of Chevron is responsible for its own affairs, Chevron Corporation manages its investments in these subsidiaries and their affiliates. The investments are grouped into two business segments, Upstream and Downstream, representing the company’s “reportable segments” and “operating segments.” Upstream operations consist primarily of exploring for, developing and producing crude oil and natural gas; liquefaction, transportation and regasification associated with liquefied natural gas (LNG); transporting crude oil by major international oil export pipelines; processing, transporting, storage and marketing of natural gas; and a gas-to-liquids plant. Downstream operations consist primarily of refining of crude oil into petroleum products; marketing of crude oil and refined products; transporting of crude oil and refined products by pipeline, marine vessel, motor equipment and rail car; and manufacturing and marketing of commodity petrochemicals, plastics for industrial uses, and fuel and lubricant additives. All Other activities of the company include worldwide cash management and debt financing activities, corporate administrative functions, insurance operations, real estate activities and technology companies.

The company’s segments are managed by “segment managers” who report to the “chief operating decision maker” (CODM). The segments represent components of the company that engage in activities (a) from which revenues are earned and expenses are incurred; (b) whose operating results are regularly reviewed by the CODM, which makes decisions about resources to be allocated to the segments and assesses their performance; and (c) for which discrete financial information is available.

The company’s primary country of operation is the United States of America, its country of domicile. Other components of the company’s operations are reported as “International” (outside the United States).

Fair Value of Financial Instruments

The three levels of the fair value hierarchy of inputs the company uses to measure the fair value of an asset or liability are described as follows:

Level 1: Quoted prices (unadjusted) in active markets for identical assets and liabilities. For the company, Level 1 inputs include exchange-traded futures contracts for which the parties are willing to transact at the exchange-quoted price and marketable securities that are actively traded.

Level 2: Inputs other than Level 1 that are observable, either directly or indirectly. For the company, Level 2 inputs include quoted prices for similar assets or liabilities, prices obtained through third-party broker quotes and prices that can be corroborated with other observable inputs for substantially the complete term of a contract.

Level 3: Unobservable inputs. The company does not use Level 3 inputs for any of its recurring fair value measurements. Level 3 inputs may be required for the determination of fair value associated with certain nonrecurring measurements of nonfinancial assets and liabilities.