Oil Industry Layoffs

BP Amoco has agreed to buy Atlantic Richfield Co. in a stock swap worth about $27 billion that will fold the Los Angeles oil company into a new global energy giant capable of exploring all corners of the planet--but thousands of Arco employees probably will not be a part of it. The two companies are expected to officially unveil the deal this morning in London. If the transaction goes through, Arco, the seventh-largest U.S.

Unocal Corp., which explores for oil and natural gas and develops power plants and pipelines, plans to cut 195 jobs and take an unspecified first-quarter charge in a restructuring to boost profit. Unocal said it plans to lay off about 2.6% of its worldwide work force of 7,500 in a voluntary program. The El Segundo-based company was expected to earn 48 cents a share in the first quarter, according to the average estimate of seven analysts polled by First Call/Thomson Financial. Shares rose $1.

Continuing its restructuring program, Chevron Corp. announced Monday that it will combine five oil and gas research and technology groups into one unit in a move expected to cut up to 450 jobs and slash annual expenses by more than $60 million. Chevron Petroleum Technology Co., the new entity, will direct scientists and engineers in the exploration for oil and gas. The jobs will be eliminated from the five former groups by Aug. 1.

Texaco Inc., the third-largest U.S. oil company, said it is cutting 2,500 jobs, 79% more than it estimated last year. Most of the cuts will be completed by the end of next month, Texaco said in a quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company took a second-quarter charge of $67 million, largely for severance costs. Texaco had about 24,600 employees at the end of last year.

Struggling to cope with depressed world crude prices, Unocal Corp. said Thursday that it would shrink its Orange County work force by as much as 7% over the next six months. The international petroleum and chemical products giant said that "changing market conditions" have forced it to scale down its research and development facilities in Brea and Anaheim, a move that will eliminate between 50 and 100 jobs.

Most of the 6,000 initial job cuts expected from the $49-billion British Petroleum-Amoco Corp. merger will occur in the United States, BP Chief Executive John Browne said Wednesday. The merger will have the "greatest impact" on the combined U.S. refining and marketing operations of the two companies, Browne said at a conference for media and Wall Street analysts a day after the deal was announced.

Phillips Petroleum Co., the seventh-largest U.S. oil company, said it will cut 1,400 jobs, or 8% of its work force, and slash spending by about a third this year because of a continued oil-price slump. Phillips also will take $339 million in charges that will result in a loss for the fourth quarter. Excluding charges, the company said, it would break even or post a small loss. Analysts had expected Phillips to earn 12 cents a share.

Mobil Corp. will eliminate 4,700 jobs in a worldwide restructuring aimed at keeping it competitive with other big oil companies that have slashed payrolls and costs. Mobil said Monday that the cutbacks will save more than $1 billion a year when they are fully implemented by the end of 1996. The country's second-largest oil company has about 50,300 employees around the world.

Arco Alaska Inc. to Cut 32% of Work Force: The Atlantic Richfield Co. unit said it will cut 750 jobs over the next several months to cope with low oil prices and declining production from the giant Prudhoe Bay field. Arco Alaska currently has 2,350 employees, 450 fewer than in 1990. Like other oil producers, Arco, the No. 7 U.S. oil producer, has been hit hard as oil prices plummeted to an average of $16.08 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange this year, the lowest price in six years.

BP Amoco's aim in acquiring Atlantic Richfield Co. is to survive in the fast-consolidating petroleum industry by growing bigger. It plans to boost its profit by cutting costs, firing Arco personnel and eliminating duplicate operations to do so. The British company, formerly known as British Petroleum, and its group chief executive, Sir John Browne, are unusually swift and direct in cutting costs out of the hides of acquired companies.

BP Amoco has agreed to buy Atlantic Richfield Co. in a stock swap worth about $27 billion that will fold the Los Angeles oil company into a new global energy giant capable of exploring all corners of the planet--but thousands of Arco employees probably will not be a part of it. The two companies are expected to officially unveil the deal this morning in London. If the transaction goes through, Arco, the seventh-largest U.S.

Atlantic Richfield Co. said it will eliminate an additional 300 jobs and take charges of $890 million in the fourth quarter, continuing a trend of cutbacks and consolidation in an oil industry battered by low prices for crude and weak demand. The layoffs will now total about 7% of Los Angeles-based Arco's total worldwide work force of 18,000. "The bulk of the cuts are in corporate offices and technical areas, such as engineers and scientists," said spokeswoman Linda Dozier.

Phillips Petroleum Co., the seventh-largest U.S. oil company, said it will cut 1,400 jobs, or 8% of its work force, and slash spending by about a third this year because of a continued oil-price slump. Phillips also will take $339 million in charges that will result in a loss for the fourth quarter. Excluding charges, the company said, it would break even or post a small loss. Analysts had expected Phillips to earn 12 cents a share.

Conoco Inc. said it will eliminate 975 jobs, or 6% of its work force, next year as part of an effort to slash expenses by $500 million, joining other oil-related companies making cuts because of plunging oil prices. The cost-cutting program, which will reduce Conoco's spending by 22%, will result in a $50-million charge against fourth-quarter earnings. A spokesman for Conoco, which is 70% owned by DuPont Co.

The oil industry will endure at least another year of anemic prices leading to layoffs, such as those announced Thursday by Texaco Inc., and reductions in capital spending, executives said at an industry gathering in San Francisco. "This is a critical period for the industry," Peter Bijur, Texaco's chief executive, told fellow oil executives at this week's annual meeting of the American Petroleum Institute, the industry's trade group.

Atlantic Richfield Co. employees have been handed details of severance packages as a prelude to a major layoff that the Los Angeles-based company confirms will be announced in the next few days. Sources predict the job cuts may run as high as half of headquarters staff, which totals 400 permanent and 250 temporary employees, through a combination of layoffs and "outsourcing" of jobs.

The Transportation Department said it postponed indefinitely public hearings on the planned alliance between British Airways and AMR Corp.'s American Airlines after the collapse of aviation trade talks with Britain earlier this week. U.S. negotiators walked away from the talks, citing a lack of progress on key issues, including liberal route rights and open pricing. * * Shell Oil Co., the U.S.