issue 40 spring 2019 inside this issue - cukpa...for caltex uk expatriate pensioners it was january...

The Newsletter of the Chevron UK Pensioners’ Association

I N S I G H TISSUE 40

Spring 2019Date of last supplementation

For Chevron UK pensioners it was ☺1st February 2018☺

For Caltex UK Expatriate pensioners it was January 2019

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

General p.1 Chairman’s letter p.2 - 3 A French Travel p.4 - 5 Meeting minutes p.6-7 Quick Quiz p.7 Captain update p.8 Expression of Wish p.8 Retiree lunches p.9 Biographies p.9-11 140 yrs in business p.12 Company News p.12 Quiz answers p.12

Please check the address label on the envelope for your current subscription status 1) Standing Order 2) Subscription due MMMM/YYYY = date your annual subscription due. 3) FYI (For Your Info)

EARLY WARNING! The venue for the Association AGM proved a success in 2018. Many members attended and there was plenty of meaningful dialogue. We will be returning to The Medical Society of London for our 2019 AGM which is scheduled for Tuesday 29th October. Full details will appear in the autumn edition of Insight- but make sure you put this date in your diary now!

STOP PRESS STOP PRESS STOP PRESS STOP PRESS Grace Shacklady from Cheltenham has been co opted onto the CUKPA committee. The vacancy for a Deputy Treasurer and Membership Sec. still needs filling. If you are interested contact the Secretary asap.

AU REVOIR (AGAIN) Dear readers, as editor I had hoped to retire gracefully however our Chairman Alan Higgins had other ideas. Ted Williams had recently stepped down from the committee which left a hole in the editorial team. Thankfully the Secretary has stepped up and agreed to cover in the interim. I have allegedly agreed to stay on and assist both Doug and Alan in the transition period hence here I am, or indeed there I go as with this edition completed, I am finally bowing out as Editor of Insight,. Dick Marland

Chevron Insight Newsletter Spring 19.qxp_Layout 1 05/04/2019 16:42

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LETTER FROM THE CHAIRMAN

As I am writing this letter, it is now mid-March and what a winter we have had up here in the North East of Scotland – absolutely fantastic! Day after day of glorious sunshine, but with very cold temperatures! But hey, we can live with that and also the odd wet and windy day in between! This year, we have had only two brief spells of snow and they were gone in 24 hours – and now the daffodils are in full bloom! Spring is definitely not far away! Firstly, the Association would like to thank Chevron for the pensions supplementation award made to the Caltex (UK) Overseas pensioners recently, the first such increase since 2012. I am not going to mention that dreaded word in this letter! However, while it remains to be seen what actually does (or maybe does not) happen on 29 March, we have to recognise that it is already having an impact on all our lives, in terms of the here and now of everyday life, as well as our longer-term financial wellbeing! As you know, it is now just over a year since our last pensions increase. The Company continues to largely base its pensions review on the Consumer Price Index, which has dropped from over 3.0% last year to about 1.9% right now. Sadly, therefore there is very little chance of a pensions supplementation this year! The Association has long since argued that CPI is not indicative of what pensioners mostly have to spend their money on. Simply the basic things in of life - food, heating and utility bills! As we have all seen from our Council tax bills this year, our electricity costs and in Scotland our income tax bills, these continue to inexorably RISE! We continued to make this point in a recent letter to the Company, emphasising the uncertainty that word is creating in every part of our financial lives! We will continue to do this to the Company as things progress – or not! This has been quite a year of change! We have had the change from AON Hewitt to Barnett Waddingham as Pensions Administrator. A few hiccups along the way, but from the lack of communications from members on this topic, this has been largely a well-communicated and well-managed exercise – our thanks to Mr Ashley Sanders of Chevron in this regard! Of course, this is no compensation if your particular case went awry, but overall, a very good effort! Sadly however a few issues have arisen with HMRC during this change of administrator. In a small number of cases tax has been miscalculated, while overseas members may need to check their tax exemptions. Once again, I would recommend that members join the Barnett Waddingham website, but should you still be having problems with Barnett Waddingham, please feel free to contact myself or any members of the Committee and we will do our very best to help. At the same time, do please remember to take a look at our own Association website, where there is a wealth of information on a huge range of topics!


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Just before we leave financial issues, could I recommend that members with an interest in the Equitable Life situation, take a look at the Equitable website. There are some further developments for ‘with profits’ policyholders, that will require decisions and voting this coming summer. Changes for Chevron too! We heard last year that all the North Sea assets were up for sale and this winter, one of the shining prospects west of Shetland, the Rosebank field, was sold to Equinor (formerly Statoil). Obviously this could be the first of many such changes, which we are following closely, as further sales will undoubtedly have a significant impact on our situation in the future. Changes too within our Association Committee! Our sincere thanks go to David Low of Milford Haven who has retired as our Hon Secretary after many years service. A difficult task, done extremely well and with our grateful thanks! Alan Dennison from Pembroke has taken over as our Hon Secretary. As I have mentioned previously, Doug Reoch has taken over the editorship of our Newsletter, assisted by Alan Dennison, with expert guidance from Dick Marland, to whom we are also very grateful for his 13 years of stewardship. We are also very pleased to welcome Mrs Grace Shacklady from Cheltenham to the Committee, representing that geographical location from a former Gulf Oil perspective. The Association is also greatly indebted once again to Mr Ron Groves of Horsham, who has been relentlessly pursuing lapsed members with some significant success. The Committee is extremely grateful to Ron, who has achieved this whilst also facing difficult family circumstances. We are also very grateful to our Treasurer and Membership Secretary Dave Poulter, who continues to more than fulfill his role, in spite of being incapacitated and housebound most of the winter. Get well soon Dave, we need you back with us! A change of venue in London for our Committee meetings too! The premises of a social enterprise in Marylebone, within walking distance of Paddington station, are proving both cost effective and eminently suitable. Our AGM however, will be held at the Medical Society of London in Chandos Street as previously and this year will be on Tuesday, 29 October at 1130 hours. All members are very welcome - also afterwards at the ‘Finery’ behind Oxford Circus station! In the meantime, we have a meeting with Mr Ashley Sanders of Chevron at Westferry Circus, Canary Wharf in mid-May and I am also hoping to meet with Ms Taryn Shawstad of Chevron’s Total Remuneration in San Ramon later in the year. We will endeavour to keep the pressure on the Company at both these meetings.

My continued thanks to the Committee for their fantastic support and to all our members for giving us their confidence and trust in pursuing our common goals as far as Chevron are concerned. This is very much appreciated!


Travels to France and Military Connections A visit to Normandy in early June 2018, followed by a driving trip along the Route Napoleon in southern France, also in June, were highlights of our Summer last year. A good friend from Murfreesboro’, Arkansas, USA visited us in Sevenoaks wishing to make WWII matters the focus of her visit. Her father in law had been a US Marine and landed at Omaha beach during the D-Day landings. Sadly, her husband Johnny passed away last autumn and after much soul searching, Regina decided to make this trip which Johnny had always wanted to make, in his memory. Our last visit to Johnny and Regina in Arkansas was about 2 years ago. I hope this doesn’t cause offence to the good folks of Murfreesboro’, but I think one would have to work hard to get into serious mischief in their well ordered community! Prior to taking the ferry across the channel to Normandy, we did our preparations by visiting Chartwell, Sir Winston Churchill’s family home near Westerham, west Kent and also the Churchill War Rooms, formerly the Cabinet War Rooms, in Whitehall. These locations will be familiar to many. Both are well worth a visit and demonstrate the huge amount of goodwill and cooperation that existed between the United Kingdom and the United States during WWII. We arrived in Bayeux, Normandy, just two days after the anniversary of the D-Day landings on 6 June 1944, not expecting to see so many period military vehicles being driven around the area by enthusiasts. We found the landing sites to be very atmospheric, particularly at Arromanches, where much of the Mulberry harbour is still evident. There is a large wall map of the Mulberry configuration in Mr. Churchill’s library at Chartwell. It was hard not to feel emotional at the exceptionally well-kept US cemetery at Coleville-sur-Mer. The gratitude of the Normandy region to the Allied forces after more than 70 years is still very evident. Not having time to visit the tapestry in Bayeux we hope to be able to see it in this country, if President Macron can deliver on his offer. I think he may have been carried away somewhat and hadn’t fully realized the challenges with transporting and displaying such a priceless and fragile artefact. Having safely made the return journey across La Manche,five days later we were on a plane to Marseilles to meet great friends from our time in Copenhagen, Geoff and Monica. The song by Danny Kaye is extremely accurate, Copenhagen is a truly wonderful city. It was a pleasure and privilege to spend 7 very happy years there. The Route Napoleon takes the traveller from Golfe Juan, Antibes, along principally the N85 to Grenoble. Not hard to follow as it’s clearly marked as such on satnav. The route is the one taken by Napoleon and his troops after his exile in Elba, although I don’t think he would have had the benefit of electronic navigation. Having been banished to Elba in 1814, Napoleon decided he could do a better job than the existing royalist

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administration and returned to France, landing on 1 March 1815 to begin the journey northwards to Paris, where he arrived soon afterwards on 20 March. The route Naploeon passes through the towns of Grasse, Castellane, Sisteron, Gap and Corps, amongst others. To digress from Napoleon for a moment, I reluctantly agreed to join the visit to the Fragonaard perfume museum in Grasse. I soon realized from the exhibits, that perfume manufacture is essentially distillation. To a former chemical engineer, this was quite fascinating. A very well-presented museum and worthwhile visit and the pictures of the rich and famous at play in the south of France in the 1920’s and 30’s was also most interesting Minutes of the Committee Meetings

Back to Napoleon and his manoeuvring. The standoff with the King’s troops, much superior in number, occurred at the small town of Laffrey, just south of Grenoble. Napoleon anecdotally opened his coat and said “If any of you will shoot his Emperor, here I am?” Despite having clear instructions to open fire, the commander of the King’s forces found himself unable to give such an order. The royal troops laid down their arms and joined forces with Napoleon’s. There is a memorial to this event at Laffrey, with statue of Napoleon on his horse, at the site of this confrontation. Napoleon continued to Paris to retake control of the country and the army.

Napoleon found it difficult to keep out of European politics and of course his ambitions met their end at Waterloo, in present day Belgium, on 18 June 1815. The British and Prussian forces under Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, whose horse coincidentally was named Copenahgen and Prince Blucher, were victorious. It was decided that Napoleon needed to be kept further out of harm’s way than Elba. He was exiled to St. Helena, in the south Atlantic, where he died in May 1821. Returning to the more recent, at the time of writing it is the weekend of the Biggin Hill air show. Our home in Sevenoaks appears to be under the flight path. It was possible to see a WWI bi-plane, a Spitfire, a Hurricane, a Lancaster bomber and the Red Arrows amongst other period aircraft. No Wellington bomber, the successor to the Wellesley. There are 2 remaining Wellington bombers. One was recovered from Loch Ness and is in the Brooklands Museum, Weybridge, Surrey. The museum has a collection of military and civil aircraft, motor racing exhibits and also houses the London Bus museum. A great place to visit for those so interested. The second Wellington is undergoing restoration at the RAF Museum, Cosford. To close and I know this has been around awhile, like us, but where did Napoleon, or Wellington for that matter, keep his armies? Up his sleeves.

Neil Jones


Committee Meeting Minutes At the last meeting of the Committee in Feb it was agreed to include the latent parts of the minutes of meetings in the Newsletter. This was done in the interests of openness and transparency and also to let you, the members see what items are discussed and the agreed outcomes. This was the first meeting to be held at a new venue, The Marie Louise rooms near Marylebone tube station and the meeting room and refreshments were of a very high quality for a much-reduced cost. We shall continue to source value for money accommodation to hold these meetings. The AGM will still be held on 29th October 2019 at 11.30hrs. at the Medical Society meeting rooms this year, further information will be issued at a later date. Agenda Item 4 Matters arising:-

• Constitution Review – Completed at AGM, item 5 to state 7 members required to form a quorum at any general meeting will be updated on website. • Audit of accounts –external audit has been completed and all accounts are satisfactory.

Agenda Item 5 Treasurer’s Report – Comprehensive report provided, and emailed previously, no increase in subscriptions needed. Agenda Item 6 Chevron Issues – Cavendish square premises were up for sale and Rosebank has been sold. The rest of the N Sea assets are currently up for sale as a whole business. Chairman recently wrote thanking Taryn for the Caltex UK pensioners increase of 6.8%. effective from Jan 1st this year and also advised her that some pensioners received letters notifying them of the raise, some didn’t. The Chairman plans to write another letter to Taryn Shawstead post Brexit and will arrange a meeting in September. A meeting with Ashley Sanders, pensions manager, has been tentatively planned for May, Discussion items will include supplementation and inflation rates amongst others. There has been a positive reaction to the Barnet Waddingham website however there have been several issues with timeliness of response to queries and projection requests which is disappointing. It was agreed to include an item in Insight to forward any further issues through to the Chairman and he will chase them up with the Pensions manager. Agenda Item 7 Association Issues – 1. Succession Planning - Deputy Treasurer/ Membership Sec. still needed. 2. Chair term renewed in 2017, has agreed to continue to 2020

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3. Sec/Trevor Jones and David Poulter terms expire in 2019. All 3 will continue 4. Meeting rooms/AGM location – AGM will be held at the Medical Society on

29th October. Committee meetings will be held in the Marie Louise rooms. Costs will be reviewed annually to ensure value for money.

Agenda Item 8 Risk Assessment progress - • All items addressed and main action was the potential need for training for new and present committee members

The next meeting of the Association committee will take place on Thursday 11th July 11.30 am at The Marie Louise Rooms in London. Please advise us if you have any issues that you would like us to address.

Quick Quiz 1. Which malformation did Marilyn Monroe have when she was born? 2. What is the noisy invention of Louis Glass in 1890 called? 3. Which two sports are practiced on a green table ? 4. In which year did Maradona score a goal with his hand? 5. What is the national currency of Albania? 6. Where does a car with the letters CH come from? 7. Who was the original author of Dracula? 8. Who is the only British Prime Minister to be murdered? 9. What should you do in the Arab countries to show that the food was delicious? 10. After which animals are the Canary Islands named?

Several Americans have been seen sneaking into Canada so Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has made the decision to build a wall


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CAPTAIN FIELD DEVELOPMENT PLAN APPROVAL

ABERDEEN, U.K., 11 December - 2018 - Chevron North Sea Limited (CNSL), operator of the Captain Field, is pleased to announce that the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) has approved the Field Development Plan (FDP) to progress its Captain Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) project in the U.K. Central North Sea. Through the application of polymer injection technology, the Captain EOR project is expected to increase production and help maximise economic recovery from the field. Production consent for Stage 1 of the EOR project advances this technology – a first on the U.K. Continental Shelf (UKCS).

Expression of wish for your pension

Please go on line to the Barnett Waddingham site and fill in the expression of wish form so your pension can be allocated to your nominees. This information may not have been passed on by AON or may now be out of date. By putting it on line it is secured by the

backup procedures. The website address is shown below. https://logon.bwebstream.com/

The CUKPA website is shown below and is updated regularly. http://www.cukpa.org.uk/newsite/

Thought for the day:

"Why did I become an Editor? Well, to cut a long story short”......


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RETIREE LUNCHES In this Spring Edition of Insight we are publishing details of the proposed lunches that are planned for this autumn. We will attempt to keep this information updated and my thanks to those organisers who have responded to my requests. As we go to press, this is the latest information we have:- • London – The RAF Club, Piccadilly has been booked for Friday 25th October.

Retirees from all regions are invited. Drinks in the Churchill Bar (pay bar) for pre-lunch Reception. 12.00 for 1pm lunch. As last year the menu will be Soup, Steak Kidney and Mushroom Pie and Sherry Trifle. Price will be £40 (approx.) Contact Rod Pesch 01442 249212, or 07831 397539 or [email protected].

• Chelmsford – The organiser for 2019 will be Mick Hill –contact details are [email protected]

• Cheltenham – Queens Hotel, Friday 22nd November -12.00 for sit down at 1.15pm. Cost probably similar to last year at £33. All welcome contact Jeremy Butcher 07989 709191 or [email protected]

• Croydon – Last year -Park Hotel. No details as yet for this year but those interested please contact Doug Bingham 01322 336489 or [email protected].

• Poole – No specific plans at present but those interested please contact Janet Kennewell on 01305 851922 or [email protected]

CUKPA is very pleased to help promote these reunion lunches and many thanks to the organisers for all their efforts.

A Tale of Two Committee Members

Mr Alan Higgins joined CUKPA in 1999, becoming Chairman of the committee in 2001. He has since given outstanding service to the Association and support to Chevron pensioners over many years. Neil Jones, a relative newcomer, joined the CUKPA committee in 2014, becoming vice Chairman in 2017. Alan was born in Rugby, Warwickshire and grew up in the district of Hillmorton. He attended Paddox County Primary School, Lawrence Sheriff Grammar School for boys and was a member of the 23rd Rugby (Paddox) Scout Group.


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Neil was born in Bolton, Lancashire. His family moved to Rugby in the mid 1950’s and settled in the Hillmorton area. He attended Paddox County Primary School, Lawrence Sheriff Grammar School for boys and was a member of the 23rd Rugby (Paddox) Scout Group.

On leaving Lawrence Sheriff school in 1959, Alan attended King Edward VII Nautical College in London before joining BP Tanker Company as a Navigating Cadet, rising to the rank of Chief Officer. On leaving BP in 1970, Alan joined the Chevron Shipping Company of San Francisco at the same rank and achieved command 3 years later. In 1975, he was assigned as Chevron’s Marine Representative in Saudi Arabia and spent 3 years looking after the Company’s interests in the region.

In 1978, Alan was transferred to the Company’s North Sea oil and gas business, spending 3 years as an Offshore Installation Manager on the Ninian platforms, before transferring into the Aberdeen office. During the 1990’s, he was Production Manager with the new Alba Field operation, before managing Ninian down to Chevron closure. Simultaneously he was heavily involved with Oil Spill Response Limited, chairing this company for a number of years. He retired from Chevron in 1997 as a Senior Executive within the Aberdeen Operations.

Following his retirement from Chevron, Alan continued a heavy participation with Oil Spill Response Limited and also chairing the Sea Alarm Foundation, which looked after the welfare of plants, birds and animals caught up in marine oil spill situations.

Neil left Lawrence Sheriff school in 1969, studied Chemical Engineering at Manchester University and on graduation joined Shell International as a trainee Petroleum Engineer with assignments in Qatar, Netherlands and Aberdeen.

He moved to Getty Oil Company in London in 1979. Following the Texaco acquisition in 1984, he moved back to Aberdeen, undertook an 18 month training assignment at the Texaco corporate office White Plains, New York, returning to Aberdeen as District Engineer in 1988. In 1990 he was transferred to London and was appointed UK Upstream Engineering Manager following a short assignment in the Central Planning group. Following the change to an asset based organisation, he was appointed an Asset Manager.


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In 1997 Neil was appointed Country Manager, Copenhagen, Denmark for a three-year period. Seven years later and after the Chevron/Texaco merger in 2001, he was appointed Country Manager Pointe Noire, Congo. This was an entirely different proposition to the well-ordered nature of things in Scandinavia.

In 2007 he was appointed General Manager mid Africa, Houston, Texas, retiring from this role in 2011 and repatriating to the UK.

In the late 1950’s, as Alan was cycling to secondary school in Rugby, past the top of Neil’s road, Neil would have been walking in the opposite direction, past Alan’s house, to attend primary school. Although they lived within 300 yards of each other, they did not know each other at this time. On meeting through the CUKPA committee, Alan and Neil soon realized they had many mutual acquaintances, friendships and connections from their early years in the Hillmorton community, Rugby.

Who believes there is no such thing as coincidence, nor the “six degrees of separation”?


Chevron UK Pensioners’

Association Contact the Treasurer C/o 98 Goshawk Drive

CHELMSFORD Essex CM2 8XP

Phone: 01245-601451

Fighting for You Helping You

Informing You

YOUR COMMITTEE

Chairman Alan Higgins

([email protected])

Vice Chairman Neil Jones

Secretary Alan Dennison

([email protected])

Treasurer Dave Poulter

([email protected])

Insight Editor Doug Reoch

([email protected])

Trevor Jones Grace Shacklady

Website Editor

Dave Poulter

Don’t forget to visit the Association website

www.cukpa.org.uk

Printed by IMPRINT 01686 624137

COMPANY NEWS San Ramon, Calif., Feb. 1, 2019 – Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX) today reported earnings of $3.7 billion ($1.95 per share – diluted) for fourth quarter 2018, compared with $3.1 billion ($1.64 per share – diluted) in the fourth quarter of 2017, which included $2.02 billion in tax benefits related to U.S. tax reform. Included in the current quarter was an asset write-off totaling $270 million. Foreign currency effects increased earnings in the 2018 fourth quarter by $268 million. Full-year 2018 earnings were $14.8 billion ($7.74 per share – diluted), compared with $9.2 billion ($4.85 per share – diluted) in 2017. Included in 2018 were impairments and other charges of $1.59 billion and a gain on an asset sale of $350 million. Foreign currency effects increased earnings in 2018 by $611 million. Sales and other operating revenues in fourth quarter 2018 were $40 billion, compared to $36 billion in the year-ago period. Delivering on Financial Commitments Chevron expects approximately $30 billion of cash generation at $60 Brent in 2019 to be used to fund the 6 percent annual dividend increase, a ratable and high-return capital program, and $4 billion of expected share repurchases.

140 Years in the business and still going strong.

Several facts you might not know about Chevron:-

1. Founded in 1879 under a different name 2. The Chevron Name Has Been Used Since the 1930s 3. Since the company was founded, it has always been based

in California 4. Chevron Corporation Had a World War II Military Production

Contract 5. They Are Ranked in Two Fortune 500 Lists 6. Chevron has made Political Contributions to the Republican

party

Answers to quick quiz on page 7 1. She had six toes 2. Jukebox 3. Billiards & Ping Pong

4. 1986 5. Albanese lek 6. Switzerland 7. Bram Stoker 8. Spencer Percival 9. Belch 10. Dog


issue 40 spring 2019 inside this issue - cukpa...for caltex uk expatriate pensioners it was january...

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