was partly offset by higher operating expenses of $500 million. A favorable change in tax items of about $450 million was mostly offset by higher depreciation expenses. The 2009 period included gains of about $500 million on asset sales and tax items related to the Gorgon Project in Australia. Foreign currency effects decreased earnings by $293 million in the 2010 period, compared with a reduction of $578 million a year earlier, primarily reflecting noncash losses on balance sheet remeasurement.

     International upstream earnings of $8.7 billion in 2009 decreased $6.4 billion from 2008. Lower prices for crude oil and natural gas reduced earnings by $7.0 billion, while foreign currency effects and higher operating and depreciation expenses decreased income by a total of $2.2 billion. Partially offsetting these items were benefits of $2.3 billion resulting from an increase in sales volumes of crude oil and about $500 million associated with asset sales and tax items related to the Gorgon Project.

     The company’s average realization for international crude oil and natural gas liquids in 2010 was $72.68 per barrel, compared with $55.97 in 2009 and $86.51 in 2008. The average natural gas realization was $4.64 per thousand cubic feet in 2010, compared with $4.01 and $5.19 in 2009 and 2008, respectively.

     International net oil-equivalent production of 2.06 million barrels per day in 2010 increased about 3 percent and 11 percent from 2009 and 2008, respectively. The volumes in 2010 include synthetic oil that was reported in 2009 and 2008 as production from oil sands in Canada. Absent the impact of prices on certain production-sharing and variable-royalty agreements, net oil-equivalent production increased 5 percent in 2010 and 4 percent in 2009, when compared with the prior year’s production.

     The net liquids component of international oil-equivalent production was 1.4 million barrels per day in 2010, an increase of approximately 3 percent from 2009 and 14 percent from 2008. International net natural gas production of 3.7 billion cubic feet per day in 2010 was up 4 percent and 3 percent from 2009 and 2008, respectively.

     Refer to the “Selected Operating Data” table, on page FS-11, for the three-year comparative of international production volumes.

     U.S. downstream earned $1,339 million in 2010, compared with a loss of $121 million in 2009. Improved margins on refined products increased earnings by about $550 million. Also contributing to the increase was a nearly $400 million gain on the sale of a 23.4 percent ownership interest in the Colonial Pipeline Company. Higher earnings from chemicals operations increased earnings by about $300 million, largely from improved margins at the 50 percent-owned Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LLC (CPChem).

     Earnings decreased approximately $1.5 billion in 2009 from 2008. Lower refined product margins resulted in an earnings decline of $1.7 billion. Partially offsetting the effects of lower refined product margins was a decrease in operating expenses, which benefited earnings by $300 million, and an increase of about $100 million in earnings from CPChem. The improvement for CPChem