76 Products Co

Tosco Corp., formerly a small-time California oil company that nobody wanted but which has since wowed Wall Street by buying money-losing refineries and squeezing profit from them, agreed Monday to buy Unocal Corp.'s refining and marketing operations for more than $1.8 billion. If completed, the deal will instantly make Tosco a big-time player in California and nationally.

Signaling a growing corporate confidence in Orange County's long-term prospects, oil giant Unocal Corp. is negotiating to move 500 employees and the headquarters of a key division to the county. The Los Angeles company's marketing and refining arm, 76 Products Co., wants to lease the 12-story Bank of America building near South Coast Plaza, said Lawrence W. Higby, president of 76 Products.

Oil industry workers on Wednesday threatened to strike as early as Sunday at three California refineries that Tosco Corp. is buying from Unocal Corp., raising the specter of higher gasoline prices for consumers. The Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Union has rejected terms of the contract offered by Tosco that includes plans to cut 15% to 20% of the 900 jobs at refineries in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Santa Maria, said Kelly Quinn, president of OCAW Local 1-675.

Donald R. Beall always was considered a young man in a hurry as he climbed the corporate ladder to take the reins of Rockwell International Corp. and steer it in a new direction. His energy and his ambition are reflected in the overhaul of the company from an aerospace and defense firm to a conglomerate of peacetime ventures that make a variety of unrelated products--from facsimile machines to truck axles--that typically are leaders in their fields.

The 12-story building overlooking the San Diego and Costa Mesa freeways has been in an anesthetic slumber for nearly five months now, its facade of smoked glass and brown stone concealing the extensive surgery taking place inside. The building is only 9 years old, and its bones are still strong. But nine years is a lifetime in this age of corporate mutation and technological turnover. Old-style office designs sap a company's strength, and digital data starts to clog old phone lines.