Headquarters: San Ramon, Calif.
Revenue: $233.9 billion
Profit: $26.2 billion
2012 rank: 3
Chevron (once part of John Rockefeller's Standard Oil Co.) is the country’s second-largest oil company and one of the biggest operators of deep-water wells in the Gulf of Mexico. It has also become active in acquiring natural gas drilling rights in the Marcellus Shale formation in Pennsylvania. The company, maintains its No. 3 Fortune 500 ranking by a wide margin. Its profit margin, $26.2 billion, was the second-largest in company history. Chevron earned $26.9 billion in 2011.
