Verified
Chevron
Piloting- Oil and gas
- 43,039 employees
- ApEX, APOLO, ScoutAI built in-house
- Copilot, Claude
- Microsoft primary cloud
- $100M+ AI value (2026)
Chevron deploys AI mainly through tools it builds for its own operations, such as ApEX for exploration data, APOLO for shale forecasts and an agentic assistant that tunes Permian and Bakken wells around the clock, while its staff also use Microsoft Copilot and Anthropic's Claude. Jeff Gustavson, president of New Energies, oversees enterprise AI until Brent Gros takes over the AI strategy on Jan 1, 2027. CFO Eimear Bonner said on Oct 30, 2026 that AI had captured more than $100 million of value in 2026.
chevron.comTheir approach to AI
- The platform
- Chevron builds its own AI tools: ApEX, a multi-agent generative AI system for exploration data launched in Aug 2024, APOLO for shale production forecasts, and ScoutAI for basin assessments (Oct 2026).
- The models
- Chevron staff use Microsoft Copilot and Anthropic's Claude (Jun 2026), but Chevron has not named the models behind ApEX or its other in-house tools; Microsoft is its primary cloud provider (May 2026).
- The reach
- Chevron has published no count of employees who use AI; CFO Eimear Bonner said in Jan 2026 that AI was starting to take off across every part of the business, and on Oct 30, 2026 that equipping every employee with AI skills is one of three focus areas.
- The catch
- Chevron credits more than $100 million of 2026 value to AI (Oct 2026) but has not said how it measures it, has published no count of employees using AI, and moves its AI strategy from Jeff Gustavson to Brent Gros on Jan 1, 2027.
Snapshot
- Employees
- 43,039
- Dec 31, 2025; 37,860 excluding service station staff, down from 39,742 a year earlier
- Technology budget
- Not disclosed
- R&D expense $427M in 2025, up from $353M in 2024
- AI/ML headcount
- Not disclosed
- Digital and data science sit in Technology, Projects & Execution; the $1B Bengaluru engineering and digital center had 1,000+ employees in Feb 2026
- Who owns AI
- Jeff Gustavson
- President, New Energies, oversees enterprise AI; Brent Gros takes the AI strategy on Jan 1, 2027
- Platform
- Proprietary tools, built in-house
- ApEX (Aug 2024), APOLO, ScoutAI and the GEORGE production engineering assistant; Copilot and Claude bought for general use
- Models
- Copilot and Claude in use
- Microsoft Copilot and Anthropic's Claude (Jun 2026); models behind ApEX and other in-house tools not disclosed
- Reach
- Not disclosed
- No user count; generative AI training for leaders, practitioners and the broader workforce (2024 Form 10-K)
- Use cases
- About 15 cataloged
- Enterprise AI and advanced analytics workflows (Jun 2026); in production in exploration, shale and tight, refining and supply chain
Key findings
CFO Eimear Bonner said on Oct 30, 2026 that Chevron had captured more than $100 million of value from AI so far in 2026, called 2026 an inflection year for AI, and said she expects the figure to rise significantly as Chevron scales.
Chevron's AI runs mainly in tools it built: ApEX, a multi-agent generative AI system first used in deepwater exploration in Aug 2024 that now draws on four petabytes of data, APOLO for shale production forecasts, ScoutAI for basin assessments in 10 new basins, and an agentic production engineering assistant deployed in the Permian and Bakken (Oct 2026).
Mark Nelson said on Oct 30, 2026 that applying AI to anticipate downtime, with learnings from the Permian, cut lost-production events in Chevron's DJ Basin operations by 50% in the third quarter, a reliability measure Chevron has not converted into barrels or dollars, and that AI pattern recognition found more than 150 leads in the Gulf of America, 16 of which moved into prospect evaluation.
Jeff Gustavson, president of New Energies and an Executive Committee member, oversees Chevron's enterprise AI efforts, and an Oct 5, 2026 announcement hands the AI strategy to Offshore president Brent Gros on Jan 1, 2027, when Gustavson becomes CFO.
Chevron staff use Microsoft Copilot and Anthropic's Claude, Eimear Bonner told Fortune in Jun 2026, and Mike Wirth said on May 1, 2026 that Microsoft is Chevron's primary cloud provider; Chevron has not named the models behind ApEX or its other in-house tools.
Where Chevron sits
- Stage
- Piloting
Chevron has reported one firm-level figure it credits to AI: CFO Eimear Bonner said on Oct 30, 2026 that AI had captured more than $100 million of value so far in 2026, without saying how Chevron measures that value or which tools produced it, and Chevron reports no return for any single AI tool. Chevron has not reported a company-wide AI rollout with a user count: staff use Microsoft Copilot and Anthropic's Claude (Jun 2026) and Jeff Gustavson, president of New Energies, oversees enterprise AI until Brent Gros takes over on Jan 1, 2027, but Chevron has never said how many of its 43,039 employees use AI tools. Chevron is therefore at Piloting on the strength of its AI-credited return; it falls short of Scaling because its AI runs in tools built for single functions, such as ApEX in exploration and APOLO in shale, and it has reported no company-wide platform with a stated number of users.
How the stages are defined - Ownership
- Jeff Gustavson, President of New Energies; Brent Gros from Jan 1, 2027
- Platform
- Hybrid: ApEX, APOLO and ScoutAI built in-house; Copilot, Claude, SLB and DataRobot tools bought
- Models
- Microsoft Copilot and Anthropic Claude in use; models behind in-house tools not disclosed
- Hosting
- Microsoft Azure, Chevron's primary cloud, including seismic imaging on Azure HPC; DataRobot inspection agents run at the edge on Chevron sites; ApEX hosting not disclosed
- Reach
- Not disclosed; AI used across the business (Jan 2026)
How they deploy
Build tools on a century of data
Chevron's 2025 annual report says the company applies AI to improve shale performance, exploration outcomes and the safety, speed and cost of work, and points to an in-house generative AI platform that turns nearly a century of subsurface data into insights in seconds. Chevron's 2025 Form 10-K says the company builds high-impact use cases on its own data and works with others to get AI solutions, and Ryder Booth said in Jul 2026 that Chevron's geology AI system draws on four petabytes of data.
Both sides of AI
Eimear Bonner said on Oct 30, 2026 that Chevron sits on both sides of AI: using it to make better decisions and operate more efficiently, and supplying the energy that powers it, with a third focus on giving every employee the skills to use it. Chevron's New Energies unit, which Jeff Gustavson runs alongside enterprise AI, signed a 20-year agreement in Jun 2026 to power a Microsoft data center in West Texas.
AI owned by a business president, not the CIO
Chevron placed enterprise AI with Jeff Gustavson, president of New Energies, whose areas in the Feb 2026 Form 10-K include power for data centers and artificial intelligence, while Ryder Booth's Technology, Projects & Execution organization runs information technology, innovation and digital and data science. Chevron's Oct 5, 2026 announcement keeps the pairing: Offshore president Brent Gros becomes president of New Energies on Jan 1, 2027 and will oversee the AI strategy, focused on value creation, operational excellence, cost efficiency and innovation.
One operating model to spread tools faster
Chevron reorganized in 2025 to simplify its structure, grouping upstream assets by class (shale and tight, offshore and others) and centralizing technical work in Technology, Projects & Execution. Mike Wirth said in Oct 2025 that the new model lets Chevron transfer technology and best practices across assets faster, and that information technology to automate work and speed decisions was already showing early returns.
AI alongside people
Martyn Clough, general manager of strategic projects for Chevron Australia, wrote in Sep 2026 that Chevron treats AI as a tool to amplify its people rather than replace their expertise and judgment, and that a framework governs how AI is developed and deployed across the business. Balaji Krishnamurthy, then head of the Chevron Technical Center, said at CERAWeek in Mar 2025 that AI lets Chevron make faster, higher-quality decisions from data that once took a long time to find.
- Deployment model
- Chevron builds most of its AI in-house and runs it inside its asset organizations. Enterprise AI efforts sit with New Energies president Jeff Gustavson until Jan 1, 2027, when Offshore president Brent Gros takes over the AI strategy. Technology, Projects & Execution, under Chief Technology and Engineering Officer Ryder Booth, holds digital and data science and the information technology organization, which covers computing, data management and analytics, and cybersecurity (Feb 2026 Form 10-K). Asset teams build and use the tools: explorationists use ApEX and ScoutAI, shale and tight engineers use APOLO and an agentic production engineering assistant, and Chevron Australia increasingly leads AI deployments from Western Australia (Mar 2026).
- Model providers
- Chevron has not disclosed which large language models or model providers power ApEX, ScoutAI or its agentic production assistant. For general work, Chevron staff use Microsoft Copilot and Anthropic's Claude, Eimear Bonner told Fortune in Jun 2026. In robotic inspections, Chevron is working with DataRobot on reasoning agents that use NVIDIA AI software and NIM microservices inside Chevron's operational systems (Jun 2026). Chevron describes ApEX as an in-house generative AI platform in which multiple specialized search agents, such as a geospatial agent and an exploration review agent, work together on a query (Nov 2025). Chevron also uses vendor AI: Percepto's drones fly automated missions and flag anomalies with built-in AI (Mar 2025), and Chevron works with SLB and Microsoft on subsurface planning software (Nov 2024).
- Data and infrastructure
- Mike Wirth said on May 1, 2026 that Microsoft has been Chevron's primary cloud provider and a key technology provider for many years. Chevron runs its extended full waveform inversion seismic imaging code on Azure high-performance computing, which Chevron says cuts imaging project cycle time by up to ten times (Jun 2025). Chevron has a revenue interest in about one in five Permian wells, which feeds its well data (2025 annual report), and its Integrated Operations Center gathers sensor, drone and camera data from Permian field operations, where more than 1,500 wells are managed with technology such as digital operators (Mar 2026). Chevron has not said where ApEX, APOLO or ScoutAI run.
Platforms and internal tools
ApEXAug 2024
ApEX is Chevron's in-house generative AI platform for exploration: explorationists type a query into a chat interface and specialized search agents comb more than a million files on maps, logs, surveys and prospects. Chevron first used ApEX in deepwater exploration in the Gulf of America, and Mark Nelson said in Oct 2026 that ApEX draws on four petabytes of data and 100 years of company knowledge and assembles basin information in hours, not months.
- Models
- Multi-agent generative AI; providers not disclosed
APOLOBy Nov 2025
APOLO (Automated Production Outlook and Location Optimization) is Chevron's proprietary AI system that analyzes millions of data points on geology, depletion and well design across shale and tight assets such as the Permian and DJ basins to produce standardized, explainable production forecasts in minutes instead of weeks (2025 Annual Report). Chevron plans to extend APOLO across its global shale and tight assets, and its 2025 Annual Report names agent-based optimization as a capability Chevron is adding.
ScoutAIBy Oct 2026
ScoutAI builds deep basin assessments for Chevron's exploration teams in hours instead of weeks, and Mark Nelson said on Oct 30, 2026 that Chevron is applying it in 10 new basins.
GEORGE and the agentic production assistantBy Aug 2026
GEORGE (Generative Engineering, Orchestration, and Real-Time Operations Guidance Engine) is an intelligent digital production engineering assistant that Peter Nesom, general manager of Chevron's Production Engineering Center of Excellence, said on Aug 25, 2026 had been used on more than 5,000 wells for analysis, optimization and automation. Eimear Bonner said on Oct 30, 2026 that an agentic AI production engineering assistant Chevron built in-house optimizes production from its wells around the clock in the Permian, the Bakken and other assets; Chevron has not said whether the two are the same tool.
Permian Integrated Operations Center
Chevron's Integrated Operations Center pulls data from sensors, drones, subsurface monitors and cameras across its Permian operations so technicians can run equipment remotely and spot issues early, and Chevron staff use AI models and automated systems to track trends in real time (Mar 2026).
Vendors and partners
MicrosoftBy 2019
Primary cloud provider; Azure high-performance computing for seismic imaging; Microsoft Copilot for staff (Jun 2026); customer for Chevron's data center power · Mike Wirth called Microsoft Chevron's primary cloud provider and a long-time partner in May 2026; Chevron signed a 20-year agreement in Jun 2026 to supply a Microsoft data center in West Texas from the 2.67-gigawatt Project Kilby.
SLB2019
Subsurface planning and drilling software (FDPlan, DrillPlan, DrillOps) in a three-way collaboration with Microsoft · Chevron said in Nov 2024 that DrillPlan cut 30 days off its deepwater well planning process.
Anthropic
Claude, used by Chevron staff · Eimear Bonner told Fortune in Jun 2026 that Chevron uses tools including Microsoft Copilot and Anthropic's Claude; Chevron has not said how many employees have access.
DataRobot and NVIDIAJun 2026
Agentic AI at the edge for autonomous robotic inspections · DataRobot said on Jun 2, 2026 that Chevron uses its agent platform with NVIDIA AI software and NIM microservices to plan robotic missions and check site conditions continuously, under Chevron's Facilities and Operations of the Future program.
EliisMar 2024
Commercializes Chevron's AI fault-detection models in its PaleoScan seismic interpretation software · Eliis and Chevron agreed in Mar 2024 to develop and sell AI algorithms for seismic interpretation and subsurface modeling (World Oil).
Percepto
AI drone-in-a-box remote inspections · Percepto said in Mar 2025 that a six-month test near Midland, Texas reached its milestone and that Chevron had deployed a second system in Colorado.
HalliburtonJun 2025
Closed-loop, feedback-driven hydraulic fracturing in Colorado · Chevron's Jun 2025 release describes digital automation and an algorithm built on Chevron's fracturing and subsurface knowledge, and does not call the process AI.
Responsible AI Institute
Industry consortium membership on responsible AI · Listed in Chevron's 2025 Form 10-K (Feb 2026).
Engine No. 1 and GE VernovaJan 2025
Partners in Chevron's power-for-data-centers business · The partnership supplies electricity for AI data centers; it is a line of business, not a source of AI tools for Chevron's own work.
Leadership
AI, data and platform leaders
Executives
AI org map
Enterprise AI held by a business president; technology and IT centralized in Technology, Projects & Execution; tools built inside asset classes
Chevron's enterprise AI efforts report through Jeff Gustavson, president of New Energies and an Executive Committee member, whose Feb 2026 Form 10-K areas include artificial intelligence and power for data centers. Ryder Booth's Technology, Projects & Execution organization, created in a 2025 reorganization, holds information technology, digital and data science, and innovation. Chevron's Oct 5, 2026 announcement moves the AI strategy to Brent Gros, who becomes president of New Energies on Jan 1, 2027, as Gustavson becomes CFO and Eimear Bonner becomes president of Oil, Products & Gas.
Chevron has not disclosed how many people work on AI. Chevron's digital and data science staff sit in Technology, Projects & Execution under Ryder Booth, which also holds the information technology organization led by a chief information officer who joined Chevron in 2024 (Feb 2026 Form 10-K). Asset teams build tools too: Chevron engineers in the Permian built AI tools that summarize daily drilling activity and extract data from drilling reports (Nov 2025), and Chevron Australia increasingly leads AI deployments from Western Australia (Mar 2026). Eimear Bonner said in Jun 2026 that Chevron had scaled up the small AI skunkworks team it created a few years earlier. Chevron announced a $1 billion Engineering and Innovation Excellence Center (ENGINE) in Bengaluru in Aug 2024 to provide engineering and digital services to its global operations; Chevron India country head Akshay Sahni said in Feb 2026 that ENGINE had grown to more than 1,000 employees, and Reuters reported in Oct 2025 that the center was built to deepen Chevron's digital and AI capabilities.
Reporting lines
Chairman and CEO
New Energies and enterprise AI
Jeff Gustavson, President
Executive Committee member; Brent Gros takes over on Jan 1, 2027; the reporting line to the CEO is inferred, not published
Technology, Projects & Execution
Ryder Booth, Chief Technology and Engineering Officer
Executive Committee member; the reporting line to the CEO is inferred, not published
Information Technology
Chief Information Officer (joined 2024, not named in the sources checked)
Computing, data management and analytics, and cybersecurity (Feb 2026 Form 10-K)
Cybersecurity
Chief Information Security Officer (not named in the sources checked)
Runs four Cyber Intelligence Centers
Chief Financial Officer
Eimear Bonner
Oil, Products & Gas
Mark Nelson, Vice Chairman
Eimear Bonner takes over on Jan 1, 2027
Upstream
Clay Neff, President
Organized by asset class since Jul 2025: shale and tight, offshore, and others
Exploration
Kevin McLachlan, Vice President
Main user of ApEX and ScoutAI
Chevron's leadership page lists Ryder Booth and Jeff Gustavson as Executive Committee members but does not publish their reporting lines. Chevron's Form 10-K says its CIO oversees the IT program including cybersecurity and that the CISO reports to the CIO, without naming either. Booth's Chevron biography dates his appointment to Jun 2025, while the Feb 2026 Form 10-K says Jul 2025.
Where the AI workforce sits
Technology, Projects & Execution (digital, data science and IT)
Chevron has not published the size of its digital, data science or IT staff.
Not disclosedAsset teams (shale and tight, exploration, Australia)
Engineers in the asset businesses build and run tools such as APOLO and the Permian drilling data tools.
Not disclosedEngineering and Innovation Excellence Center, Bengaluru
A $1 billion center for engineering and digital services announced in Aug 2024, with more than 1,000 employees by Feb 2026 (Akshay Sahni); the share working on AI is not published.
Not disclosed
Named people
Use cases
Chevron had cataloged about 15 enterprise workflows and use cases for AI and advanced analytics by Jun 2026, and names production AI in exploration (ApEX, ScoutAI, AI pattern recognition on seismic data, real-time drilling optimization), shale and tight (APOLO, a production engineering assistant, reliability models), refining, supply chain and Australian LNG maintenance. Chevron reports no cost, revenue or production return for any single use case; its one firm-level figure is more than $100 million of value captured from AI in 2026 by Oct 30, which Eimear Bonner expects to rise significantly as Chevron scales.
| Use case | Area | Status | ROI |
|---|---|---|---|
| ApEX exploration data search ApEX lets Chevron explorationists query more than a million exploration files through a chat interface backed by specialized search agents, and Mark Nelson said in Oct 2026 that ApEX now assembles basin information in hours instead of months. | Exploration | In production | |
| ScoutAI basin assessments ScoutAI builds deep basin assessments in hours instead of weeks and is being applied in 10 new basins (Oct 2026). | Exploration | In production | |
| AI pattern recognition and seismic interpretation Chevron combines AI-assisted interpretation with new seismic imaging to rank prospects; AI pattern recognition found more than 150 leads in the Gulf of America, 16 of which moved into evaluation (Oct 2026). | Exploration | In production | |
| Real-time drilling optimization Chevron uses AI to monitor drilling conditions continuously and recommend actions that reduce non-productive time on exploration wells (Oct 2026). | Exploration | In production | |
| APOLO production forecasting APOLO produces standardized, explainable production forecasts for wells in the Permian and DJ basins and shows how spacing, proppant and fluid choices may affect output, helping engineers decide where to drill and how to design wells. | Shale and tight | In production | |
| Agentic production engineering assistant An in-house agentic AI assistant optimizes production from Chevron's wells around the clock in the Permian, the Bakken and other assets (Oct 2026); Chevron's GEORGE production engineering assistant had been used on more than 5,000 wells by Aug 2026. | Shale and tight | In production | |
| DJ Basin reliability Chevron applies AI to anticipate and minimize downtime in its DJ Basin operations, scaling what it learned in the Permian; Mark Nelson said lost-production events fell 50% and the basin reached first-quartile reliability in the third quarter of 2026 (Oct 2026). | Shale and tight | In production | |
| Permian drilling data tools Two AI tools built by Chevron engineers in the Permian summarize daily drilling activity and extract key data from drilling reports on Chevron-operated and co-owned wells, so engineers can compare nearby wells. | Shale and tight | In production | |
| Permian remote operations Chevron's Permian digital teams use AI models and automated systems to track trends and act in real time across hundreds of facilities, and its Integrated Operations Center pulls in sensor, drone and camera data from the field (Mar 2026). | Shale and tight | In production | |
| AI drone inspections Chevron tested Percepto's AI drones for remote facility inspections near Midland, Texas, reached a six-month milestone in Mar 2025 and deployed a second system in Colorado. | Upstream operations | Pilot | |
| Well design and project scoping tools Chevron is testing proprietary AI tools that help design wells and scope capital projects, which Eimear Bonner described as at a really early stage (Oct 2026). | Capital projects | Pilot | |
| Refinery reliability and turnaround planning Chevron uses AI and 100 years of data to predict where refinery reliability risks occur, is bringing AI into yield decisions, and uses teams of people and AI agents for turnaround and refinery planning (Oct 2026). | Downstream | In production | |
| Negotiation intelligence Chevron's supply chain team uses AI to gather intelligence on how to approach certain negotiations, an example Eimear Bonner gave of the company's cost program (Jan 2026). | Supply chain | In production | |
| LNG maintenance and reliability Chevron Australia uses AI to synthesize maintenance histories and condition data for predictive maintenance, and used machine learning to move half a million maintenance equipment tags to an AI-compatible system. | Chevron Australia | In production | |
| Field development optimization Chevron uses field development optimization software that applies AI and automation to generate hundreds to thousands of development scenarios from reservoir models, first tested on gas fields off northwest Australia and moving to the Gulf of Mexico (Jun 2024). | Upstream operations | In production |
Adoption
Chevron spread AI from specialist data science into asset operations over about four years: AI and machine learning in its Subsurface Innovation Lab by Dec 2022, AI inside facility digital twins by Feb 2023, the ApEX generative AI platform for deepwater explorationists from Aug 2024, and APOLO, ScoutAI and an agentic production assistant by Oct 2026. Chevron's 2024 Form 10-K reported tailored generative AI training for leaders, practitioners and the broader workforce, and Eimear Bonner said in Oct 2026 that equipping every employee with AI skills is one of three focus areas. Eimear Bonner told Fortune in Jun 2026 that Chevron staff use Microsoft Copilot and Anthropic's Claude and that its finance function, about 3,500 people, uses AI in investor relations, audit and forecasting. Chevron has published no count of employees with access to those tools or of active users, so how far AI reaches beyond the named tools is not known.
By the numbers
Rollout, first pilot to today
2019
Chevron, SLB and Microsoft began a three-way collaboration on a cloud data platform for subsurface work built around FDPlan, DrillPlan and DrillOps.
Dec 2022
Chevron described AI and machine learning workflows in its Subsurface Innovation Lab that model unconventional reservoirs and replace manual log analysis.
Feb 2023
Chevron said it uses AI in digital twins of facilities such as the Wheatstone platform to diagnose and predict process upsets and equipment issues.
Aug 2024
Chevron launched ApEX, an in-house generative AI platform, for deepwater exploration in the Gulf of America.
Feb 2025
Chevron's 2024 Form 10-K reported tailored generative AI training for leaders, practitioners and the broader workforce.
Feb 24, 2025
Chevron reorganized upstream by asset class and named Ryder Booth to lead Technology, Projects & Execution from Jul 1, 2025, replacing Balaji Krishnamurthy at the technical center.
Mar 2025
Percepto said a six-month test of AI drone inspections at Chevron near Midland, Texas reached its milestone and that Chevron had deployed a second system in Colorado.
Oct 2025
Chevron opened a 312,000-square-foot building for its ENGINE center in Bengaluru, which had hired more than 1,000 people since 2024 to deepen Chevron's digital and AI capabilities.
Nov 2025
Chevron described ApEX and APOLO publicly on Nov 12, 2025, the day of its investor day, and Mark Nelson said in Oct 2026 that Chevron shared ApEX there.
Jan 2026
Eimear Bonner said AI was starting to take off across every part of Chevron's business, citing the supply chain team's use of AI in negotiations.
Feb 2026
Chevron's 2025 Form 10-K listed artificial intelligence among Jeff Gustavson's areas of responsibility and Chevron's membership of the Responsible AI Institute.
Jun 2026
DataRobot said Chevron was applying its AI agents, built on NVIDIA software, to plan and check robotic inspection missions at Chevron facilities.
Jun 2026
Eimear Bonner said Chevron staff use Microsoft Copilot and Anthropic's Claude and that Chevron had cataloged about 15 enterprise AI workflows and use cases.
Aug 2026
Peter Nesom said Chevron's GEORGE production engineering assistant had been used on more than 5,000 wells.
Oct 2026
Chevron reported more than $100 million of AI value captured in 2026, an agentic production assistant in the Permian and Bakken, and ScoutAI in 10 new basins.
Economics & controls
Spend and ROI
Technology budget
Chevron does not publish an IT or AI budget. Chevron's research and development expense was $427 million in 2025, up from $353 million in 2024 and $320 million in 2023 (2025 Annual Report). Chevron set its 2026 organic capital budget at $18 billion to $19 billion on Dec 3, 2025, with spending on its power business expected mainly in the US upstream segment.
Reported ROI
Eimear Bonner said on Oct 30, 2026 that Chevron had captured more than $100 million of value from AI so far in 2026, called 2026 an inflection year for AI, and said she expects the figure to increase significantly as Chevron scales. Chevron has not said how it measures that value or which tools contributed, and Chevron has published no cost, revenue or production return for any single AI tool.
Structural cost program
Chevron reached its structural cost reduction target in the second quarter of 2026, six months early, with $3 billion of annual run-rate savings since 2024, which Chevron expected to come largely from portfolio moves, technology and changes in how and where work is done, including global capability centers (Q2 2026 Form 10-Q). Eimear Bonner said on Jul 31, 2026 that 70% of the savings came from efficiency gains, driven by the 2025 reorganization and by technology and improvement initiatives; Chevron has not separated AI's share.
Headcount
Chevron had 43,039 employees at Dec 31, 2025, including 5,179 service station employees. Chevron's employees excluding service stations fell to 37,860 at the end of 2025 from 39,742 a year earlier, in the year it acquired Hess, and Chevron does not attribute the change to AI.
Power for AI data centers
Chevron's New Energies business sells power to AI data centers as a separate line of business: Chevron signed a 20-year power purchase agreement with Microsoft in Jun 2026 for Project Kilby, a 2.67-gigawatt gas-fired plant in West Texas that targets mid-teen returns, with a final investment decision expected by the end of 2026 and first power in 2028. Chevron had targeted first power in 2027 at its Nov 2025 investor day.
Governance and risk
Readiness checks and responsible AI
Chevron's 2025 Form 10-K says the company assesses the capabilities, limitations and readiness of its AI systems to make sure they are reliable and effective, and that Chevron is a member of the Responsible AI Institute. Martyn Clough wrote in Sep 2026 that a framework governs how Chevron develops and deploys AI across the business, with human judgment and clear accountability at the core.
Board oversight
Chevron's 2026 proxy statement says the full Board held an education session on AI opportunities and risks, the Audit Committee held a session on using AI in finance and audit, and the Board saw a technology showcase on robotics, autonomous operations and AI in exploration and production. Chevron's Board lists the application of digital tools and AI among the ways it oversees strategy (Apr 2026).
Disclosed risks
Chevron's 2025 Form 10-K lists risks from its growing use of AI, including dependence on biased or incorrect output, new regulation, litigation, privacy and cybersecurity risk, and falling behind competitors that adopt AI faster. Chevron's Q2 2026 Form 10-Q added that it faces growing threats from sophisticated cyberattacks that use AI.
Cybersecurity controls
Chevron's CIO oversees the IT program, including cybersecurity, and the CISO reports to the CIO and runs four Cyber Intelligence Centers that monitor threats around the clock. Chevron expects its cybersecurity guardrails, high-level design requirements, to be built into every new digital solution, and the Audit Committee meets the CISO and CIO at least twice a year (Feb 2026 Form 10-K).
Recent signals
Oct 30, 2026
Eimear Bonner said Chevron had captured more than $100 million of value from AI in 2026 and described an in-house agentic production engineering assistant running in the Permian and Bakken.
Oct 30, 2026
Mark Nelson said AI cut lost-production events in the DJ Basin by 50% in the quarter, ScoutAI is in use in 10 new basins, and ApEX now draws on four petabytes of data.
Oct 13, 2026
Eimear Bonner said at the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit that an AI project at Chevron must show a path to value and compete for capital like any other.
Oct 5, 2026
Chevron said Offshore president Brent Gros will become president of New Energies and oversee its AI strategy on Jan 1, 2027, as Jeff Gustavson becomes CFO.
Sep 23, 2026
Martyn Clough of Chevron Australia wrote in The Australian that a governance framework covers Chevron's AI and that AI helps engineers diagnose equipment issues by analyzing thousands of manuals.
Aug 25, 2026
Peter Nesom, who runs Chevron's Production Engineering Center of Excellence, said its GEORGE production engineering assistant had been used on more than 5,000 wells.
Jun 22, 2026
Chevron signed a 20-year agreement to power a Microsoft data center in West Texas from Project Kilby, a planned 2.67-gigawatt gas-fired plant.
Jun 11, 2026
Eimear Bonner told Fortune that Chevron staff use Microsoft Copilot and Anthropic's Claude, that Chevron had cataloged about 15 enterprise AI workflows and use cases, and that its early AI skunkworks team had been scaled up.
Jun 2, 2026
DataRobot said Chevron is applying its agentic AI platform, with NVIDIA software, to plan and check autonomous robotic inspections at Chevron facilities.
May 1, 2026
Mike Wirth said Microsoft is Chevron's primary cloud provider and a key technology provider, while confirming exclusive power talks with Microsoft.
Apr 7, 2026
Chevron's 2026 proxy statement said the full Board held an AI education session and the Audit Committee reviewed AI in finance and audit.
Mar 25, 2026
Chevron said Permian staff use AI models and automated systems to track trends in real time, and that more than 1,500 of its Permian wells are managed with technology such as digital operators.
Feb 28, 2026
Akshay Sahni said Chevron's Bengaluru ENGINE center had grown to more than 1,000 employees in about 17 months and that agentic AI tools can predict rock type, fluids and volumes in a quarter to half of the former cycle time.
Feb 24, 2026
Chevron's 2025 Form 10-K listed artificial intelligence among Jeff Gustavson's responsibilities, added an AI risk factor and named its membership of the Responsible AI Institute.
Jan 30, 2026
Eimear Bonner said AI was starting to take off across every part of Chevron's business, with the supply chain team using it in negotiations.
Quick answers
- How does Chevron deploy AI?
- Chevron deploys AI mainly through tools it builds for its own operations, such as ApEX for exploration data, APOLO for shale forecasts and an agentic assistant that tunes Permian and Bakken wells around the clock, while its staff also use Microsoft Copilot and Anthropic's Claude. Jeff Gustavson, president of New Energies, oversees enterprise AI until Brent Gros takes over the AI strategy on Jan 1, 2027. CFO Eimear Bonner said on Oct 30, 2026 that AI had captured more than $100 million of value in 2026.
- What does Chevron use AI for?
- Chevron had cataloged about 15 enterprise workflows and use cases for AI and advanced analytics by Jun 2026, and names production AI in exploration (ApEX, ScoutAI, AI pattern recognition on seismic data, real-time drilling optimization), shale and tight (APOLO, a production engineering assistant, reliability models), refining, supply chain and Australian LNG maintenance. Chevron reports no cost, revenue or production return for any single use case; its one firm-level figure is more than $100 million of value captured from AI in 2026 by Oct 30, which Eimear Bonner expects to rise significantly as Chevron scales.
- Who leads AI at Chevron?
- AI at Chevron is led by Jeff Gustavson (President, New Energies; oversees enterprise AI; CFO from Jan 1, 2027); Brent Gros (President, Offshore; takes over the AI strategy on Jan 1, 2027); Ryder Booth (Chief Technology and Engineering Officer). Ownership of AI on the org chart: Jeff Gustavson, President of New Energies; Brent Gros from Jan 1, 2027.
- What AI platform does Chevron use?
- Chevron builds its own AI tools: ApEX, a multi-agent generative AI system for exploration data launched in Aug 2024, APOLO for shale production forecasts, and ScoutAI for basin assessments (Oct 2026).
- Which AI models does Chevron use?
- Chevron staff use Microsoft Copilot and Anthropic's Claude (Jun 2026), but Chevron has not named the models behind ApEX or its other in-house tools; Microsoft is its primary cloud provider (May 2026).
- How many Chevron employees use AI?
- Chevron has published no count of employees who use AI; CFO Eimear Bonner said in Jan 2026 that AI was starting to take off across every part of the business, and on Oct 30, 2026 that equipping every employee with AI skills is one of three focus areas.
- How far has AI spread at Chevron?
- Chevron has reported one firm-level figure it credits to AI: CFO Eimear Bonner said on Oct 30, 2026 that AI had captured more than $100 million of value so far in 2026, without saying how Chevron measures that value or which tools produced it, and Chevron reports no return for any single AI tool. Chevron has not reported a company-wide AI rollout with a user count: staff use Microsoft Copilot and Anthropic's Claude (Jun 2026) and Jeff Gustavson, president of New Energies, oversees enterprise AI until Brent Gros takes over on Jan 1, 2027, but Chevron has never said how many of its 43,039 employees use AI tools. Chevron is therefore at Piloting on the strength of its AI-credited return; it falls short of Scaling because its AI runs in tools built for single functions, such as ApEX in exploration and APOLO in shale, and it has reported no company-wide platform with a stated number of users.
Open questions
- Which model providers and large language models power ApEX, ScoutAI and Chevron's agentic production assistant, and do they run on Microsoft Azure or elsewhere?
- How many of Chevron's 43,039 employees have access to Microsoft Copilot or Anthropic's Claude, and how many use AI each week?
- How does Chevron measure the more than $100 million of AI value it reported for 2026, and which tools account for it?
- What business return do ApEX, APOLO, ScoutAI and the agentic production assistant deliver, given that Chevron has published speedups but no cost or revenue figures for them, and how many barrels or dollars did the DJ Basin's 50% cut in lost-production events save?
- How much of the $3 billion in structural cost savings came from AI, as distinct from the 2025 reorganization, divestments and other technology?
- Who is Chevron's chief information officer, and how do the CIO, Ryder Booth and the head of enterprise AI divide responsibility after Brent Gros takes over on Jan 1, 2027?
- How many people work on AI and data science at Chevron, and what share sits in the Bengaluru Engineering and Innovation Excellence Center?
- Did the ApEX corpus grow from 4 terabytes (Nov 2025) to 4 petabytes (Oct 2026), or do the two figures measure different things?
- How far has Chevron scaled AI drone and robotic inspections beyond the two Percepto systems reported in Mar 2025 and the DataRobot work announced in Jun 2026?
- Is GEORGE, which Peter Nesom described in Aug 2026, the same agentic production engineering assistant Eimear Bonner described in Oct 2026?
Sources
Chevron
- Technology and innovation
- Leadership and Executive Committee
- Mike Wirth, Chairman and CEO, biography
- Eimear Bonner, CFO, biography
- Ryder Booth, Chief Technology and Engineering Officer, biography
- Jeff Gustavson, President, New Energies, biography
- Chevron announces senior leadership changes (Oct 5, 2026)
- Chevron announces senior leadership changes (Feb 24, 2025)
- Chevron names Kevin McLachlan to lead exploration (Oct 7, 2025)
- A smarter way to prospect for oil and gas: ApEX (Nov 12, 2025)
- How APOLO helps Chevron pinpoint prime drilling locations (Nov 12, 2025)
- Frontline innovations drive business solutions (Nov 12, 2025)
- Chevron outlines plan for sustained cash flow growth at investor day (Nov 12, 2025)
- Talent and technology strengthening Chevron's position in the Permian Basin (Mar 25, 2026)
- The Energy Tailgate: Ryder Booth on technology (Jul 9, 2026)
- The Energy Tailgate, episode 3 transcript (Jul 2026)
- The Energy Tailgate: Jeff Gustavson on powering AI (Oct 9, 2026)
- Chevron signs 20-year power agreement with Microsoft (Jun 22, 2026)
- Chevron statement on exclusivity agreement with Microsoft and Engine No. 1 (Mar 31, 2026)
- Chevron reports third quarter 2026 results (Oct 30, 2026)
- Chevron announces 2026 capex budget of $18 to $19 billion (Dec 3, 2025)
- Engine No. 1, Chevron and GE Vernova to power US data centers (Jan 28, 2025)
Chevron technology stories
- Chevron uses AI to bring reliable energy to data centers (Mar 14, 2025)
- Chevron leaders at CERAWeek 2025 (Mar 18, 2025)
- Innovative imaging method gives clearer picture of subsurface (Jun 17, 2025)
- Chevron and Halliburton enable intelligent hydraulic fracturing (Jun 12, 2025)
- AI boosts profitability in the Permian Basin (Dec 18, 2024)
- The power of collaboration: teaming up with Microsoft, SLB (Nov 25, 2024)
- New technologies speed offshore development (Jun 27, 2024)
- Chevron powers up engineering and innovation ENGINE in India (Aug 20, 2024)
- The good twin: digital doppelgangers (Feb 7, 2023)
- Artificial intelligence: the right tool at the right time (Dec 9, 2022)
- Chevron Australia: AI presents opportunity and onus, Martyn Clough (Sep 23, 2026)
- Chevron Australia: Powering a secure energy future in a digital world (Mar 11, 2026)
Filings and reports
Earnings call transcripts
Partners
News and interviews
- Fortune: How CFOs at Chevron, ServiceNow and Nasdaq decide which AI bets create value (Oct 14, 2026)
- Journal of Petroleum Technology: Maximizing every barrel, artificial lift embraces automation (Sep 4, 2026)
- Fortune: Chevron's CFO on why finance chiefs are defining AI's business value (Jun 11, 2026)
- The Core: Agentic AI is transforming subsurface exploration, Akshay Sahni (Feb 28, 2026)
- Reuters via BOE Report: Chevron expands India hub to boost digital and AI capabilities (Oct 9, 2025)
Data confidence
- Confirmed
- Stated in a primary or reputable public source.
- Estimated
- Derived or approximated from public reporting.
- Unconfirmed
- Reported, but not yet corroborated.
Chevron profile · Enterprise AI diffusion report by Imagine · facts checked against their sources on Nov 1, 2026
