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The 1990s were a memorable decade for Caltex: the company upgraded its refining
network, moved aggressively into new marketing areas, created an innovative
identity program, and relocated its headquarters halfway around the world from
Dallas to Singapore.
 Caltex began the decade on a strong note, holding an 18 per cent market share in
the 55 countries in which the company sold products. In 1990, Caltex began
expanding or upgrading the majority of its 14 refineries to meet the needs of
the rapidly growing Pacific Rim nations. Capping the list was the $1.7 billion,
130,000-barrel-a-day Star Refinery in Map Ta Phut, Thailand, a pace-setter in
design, safety features and pollution controls that started up in 1996. In South
Korea, Caltex introduced innovative operating methods that led to the 1996
expansion of the Yocheon Refinery, enabling it to convert lower-value refined
products into higher-value petrochemicals, such as polypropylene, benzene and
paraxylene. And an upgrade of the Singapore export refinery increased its
capacity by 60,000 barrels per day and included the installation of a Residuum
Fluid Cracking unit that resulted in increased production of diesel and lighter
products.
Concurrently, Caltex built hundreds of new retail outlets and renovated scores
of additional locations, principally in Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand,
Philippines, South Africa and Thailand. This programme reflected the company’s
goal of upgrading its network in preferred marketing areas.
The major new development involved the company’s growing inroads into emerging
countries such as China, Vietnam, Indonesia and India. By the end of the decade,
Caltex operated about 50 service stations in China, as well as a lube oil
blending plant in Tianjin, and a joint venture for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)
that had strong sales potential. In 2000, Caltex added a second LPG facility in
Shantou, enabling it to become a leading supplier of Asia’s second-fastest
growing fuel. Following its re-entry into India in 1993, Caltex focused on the
LPG market and by 1999 was the largest marketer of that fuel in the four
southern Indian states. In Vietnam, Caltex marketed lubricants through more than
700 branded points of sale, catering mainly to motorcycles, and also developed
markets for lubricants and asphalt. Other new development areas included Laos
and Cambodia. .
In 1994, Forbes magazine singled out Caltex for its focus on the fast-growing
Asia-Pacific region, where oil demand was growing at more than five times the
world rate. ‘All of the oil majors are looking to the Far East for growth,’
wrote Forbes’ Toni Mack and Andrew Tanzer. ‘With Caltex, Chevron and Texaco are
already there and sitting pretty,’ selling more gasoline, diesel and other
refined products in Asia than any other Western company.
 As Caltex intensified its focus on high-growth areas, it cut back or streamlined
some of its operations. In 1995, the company agreed to sell to Nippon Oil Co.
its 50 per cent interest in Nippon Petroleum Refining Co., Ltd., which included
two refineries in Japan. Subsequent to the sale, Caltex continued its strong
relationship with Nippon Oil with particular emphasis on trading, logistics and
in the marketing of bunker and aviation fuels and lubricants. That same year,
Caltex merged its operations in Australia with Ampol Ltd. to form the country’s
largest integrated refining and marketing company.
The company’s evolution prompted Caltex to create a new corporate and retail
identity program in 1996 utilizing its updated logo, the Delta Star. This new
company logo featured a distinctive five-point star with a dynamic delta at its
center and a new colour combination. It was designed for maximum visual impact,
especially at retail sites. [For more about this development, see ‘Branding’] In
keeping with the new design, Caltex began re-imaging several thousand of its
retail outlets. In 1998, the company also changed its name to Caltex Corp.,
dropping ‘Petroleum’ from the name because non-petroleum products were becoming
a growing source of revenue.
A year later, Caltex moved its headquarters from Dallas to Singapore. The move
reflected the company’s keen understanding of customer needs and changing habits
in a fluid and increasingly competitive marketplace. It also underscored a
business and social partnership in a growing region of the world.
Caltex also transformed itself from a geographically focused organization to one
operating along functional business lines. This new structure fit the company’s
goal of becoming a fast-paced organisation that placed creative problem-solving,
high-tech marketing and old-fashioned elbow grease at the top of its priorities.
It enabled the company to align its operating style to satisfy changing market
conditions and provide short-term solutions linked to longer-term objectives. As
evidence that its new approach was working, Caltex in 2000 received Singapore’s
first-ever Global Headquarters Award, which recognised the company as a leading,
significant corporate player.
 In 2001, Caltex became a part of ChevronTexaco Corp., which four years later
changed its name to Chevron Corp. The Chevron-Texaco merger fostered many
natural synergies with Caltex, including shared standards of performance and
operational excellence geared to being a consistent leader in the marketplace.
Over this period, Caltex faced a challenging environment, based on the high cost
of crude, increased competition, weaker Asian currencies and a
lower-than-expected recovery of some Asian economies. The company responded by
continuing to streamline its operations, made expanded use of its shared
services center in the Philippines, and created or expanded joint ventures to
enable the company to maximize the use of its assets. By 2004, as energy demand
growth strengthened, the company’s operating and efficiency gains paid off in
significant earnings improvement. On the verge of its 70th anniversary, Caltex’s
position was solid, meriting Forbes’ description of the company as “the jewel in
[Chevron’s] crown.”
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