Due: May 19, 2026
Chevron wants a bold approach to radically alter how we break rocks. Unconventional thinking can deliver new and innovative solutions allowing them to extract resources more efficiently.
The Chevron Rapid Engagement Challenge: Break Rocks Better will connect Chevron to entrepreneurs, researchers, startups and corporations through a fast-paced process to uncover promising early-stage concepts. Chevron wants to collaborate with previously untapped organizations able to mature visionary, cross-disciplinary solutions that deliver next-generation performance, not incremental enhancements.
Chevron envisions responsive and adaptable solutions able to treat unconventional reservoirs as a dynamic, controllable system, instead of as a static rock mass.
Possible areas of interest include, but are not limited to:
- Use of new energies to increase surface area, connectivity, permeability, or effective reservoir contact
- Approaches that combine multiple energy formats to deliver enhanced performance
The core objective of this Challenge is to fundamentally change how force and energy are delivered into the subsurface, resulting in increased surface area, greater permeability or connectivity, and new stimulation paradigm.
Chevron seeks to engage with individuals and organizations developing unorthodox approaches to enhance extraction operations. Likewise, we highly encourage respondents from outside the oil and gas sector, as Chevron seeks to engage with new and non-traditional collaboration partners.