Chevron joins SLB and TotalEnergies in Arena subsurface alliance

Chevron Technical Center, a division of Chevron U.S.A. Inc., has joined the Arena digital subsurface collaboration alongside SLB and TotalEnergies. The initiative expands an operator-backed development framework created in 2024 to design next-generation geoscience and reservoir engineering tools.

Under the agreement, Chevron will provide investment, intellectual property, and technical expertise. The company will also embed specialists at SLB technology centers to contribute capabilities in uncertainty analysis, optimization, and field development planning, building on prior joint work on the Intersect reservoir simulator.

The operational expansion comes as elevated crude prices, with West Texas Intermediate trading around $90 per barrel according to Oilprice.com, sustain upstream spending across global operations. Chevron operates in the Permian Basin, Gulf of Mexico, Bakken, DJ Basin, Kazakhstan, and Australia.

In the second quarter of 2026, Chevron reached record U.S. production of nearly 2.1 million barrels of oil equivalent per day. The producer also expects its Hess Midstream agreements to lower Bakken unit midstream costs by roughly 50%, while Equinor agreed to acquire a 17.4% interest in the Chevron-operated PEL 90 block in Namibia's Orange Basin.