1985
Gerri Martin-Flickinger began her career at Chevron in 1985, doing AI work in a research mode.
“I went to Chevron, the oil energy company. Spent my early years there and did some really cool AI work while I was there”
Topic
Chevron
23 facts from 4 episodes, in date order. These are what speakers said on the shows, each linked to the moment it was said. They aren't independently verified.
2026
Exxon doubled its earnings year over year, Shell nearly doubled its earnings in its second-highest quarter ever, and Chevron's earnings rose 180%.
“Exxon said that it doubled its earnings compared to this time last year. Shell nearly doubled. It was their second highest quarterly earnings ever. Chevron's earnings were up 180%.”
2026
Oil companies are directing much of their extra cash to dividends and stock buybacks rather than new drilling projects.
“A good chunk is going to their shareholders through dividends and stock buybacks. But these companies are not really spending a ton on things like new drilling projects.”
Undated
Ellen Nielsen became Chevron's first chief data officer about three years before this episode.
“it started three years ago. I was the first data officer within Chevron. That doesn't mean that we deal with data since a long time”
Undated
Chevron uses robots for tank inspection, replacing a cumbersome process that previously required humans.
“some areas where we use robots, for example, in tank inspection today. You can imagine that was very cumbersome, having the human involved.”
Undated
Chevron's inspection robots remove people from confined spaces.
“Now we do this with robots and we take basically the human beings out of these confined spaces”
Undated
Chevron uses computer vision to compare images of tanks and equipment to predict rust and maintenance needs.
“taking images, uh comparing the images and take predictions on what's the status of this tank and this equipment? Is it rusting? Does it need maintenance?”
Undated
A Chevron citizen development app lets workers scan a QR code to add a sensor's geospatial location when installing it.
“you basically take a QR code and you with one click you can add the geospatial location to the sensor”
Undated
Chevron created a 'rockopedia' database of rock conditions and compositions, used with machine learning to understand reservoirs.
“We even created actually a rockopedia to know what are the different rock conditions and compositions so that we can tap into this data every day when we need it.”
Undated
Nielsen states that Chevron's strategy is higher returns and lower carbon, pursued safely.
“We do higher returns and lower carbon safely, and this is our guiding principle.”
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Chevron runs a digital scholarship program with MIT in which employee cohorts study for a year.
“We have a digital scholarship program since a while, and actually we do this with MIT, where we have cohorts going for a year”
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Participants in Chevron's MIT program complete a design engineering master's in one year.
“going through a design engineering master in one year, which is really a tough thing to do.”
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Chevron works with Rice University on a six-to-seven-month data science program open to employees across the company.
“we started to work with Rice University. We have a six, seven months program also going across the company”
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Chevron is a member of the Responsible AI Institute.
“We are a member of the responsible AI Institute and watching very carefully what's happening there”
Undated
Chevron says it had been following generative AI for roughly two years or longer before ChatGPT's arrival.
“We are following generative AI already since two years or so, maybe a little longer.”
Undated
Chevron formed a more dedicated generative AI team in May or June and has hundreds of use cases in its pipeline.
“in May, June, we decided to put a more dedicated team on those activities. And yeah, we have hundreds of use cases now in the pipeline”
Undated
A Chevron team member reported that a writing task for product management that took one or two weeks now takes about one hour with ChatGPT.
“in the past it took me maybe one or two weeks. Now it takes me one hour to get this done.”
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Chevron built a chat system over its internal knowledge databases so employees can find engineering information faster.
“We have created a chat system where you can collaborate with this kind of information and figuring this out much faster.”
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Models offered to Chevron citizen developers are pre-built, secured and reviewed for responsible AI.
“we have models or algorithms in the box. We have proven, we have secured, they have followed a review process, we checked on them in terms of responsible AI”
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Nielsen joined Chevron about five years before the episode, starting in procurement.
“when I joined Chevron five years ago, I started in the procurement space because I have a procurement and data digital leg”
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DataRobot built an agent for its oil and gas customer Chevron, according to Debanjan Saha.
“we recently did, uh, you know, one of those agents with one of our, uh, oil and gas customer, Chevron.”
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Debanjan Saha says Chevron uses drones and robotic dogs to detect leaks in pressurized pipelines instead of sending humans.
“they have a set of drones and a and digital dogs that they send in order to sniff out where there may be a leak.”
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Debanjan Saha says drones that approach a leak can explode because of their lithium-ion batteries, so digital simulation is used to identify no-fly zones.
“if there is a leak and they go too close to it, they have lithium ion batteries and it can blow up.”
Episodes
- 31 Oct 2026Oil Earnings, Binance Heist, A MAHA Update15m
- 5 Dec 2023Operational Safety With AI: Chevron's Ellen Nielsen31m
- 25 Jan 2022Transforming a Technology Organization for the Future: Starbucks’s Gerri Martin-Flickinger26m
- 4 Jul 2026Reengineering Work with Intelligent Agents - with Debanjan Saha of DataRobot30m