Oil Industry Texas

In the science-fiction movie "The Abyss," oil roughnecks of the future operate an undersea drilling rig deep beneath the waves of the Gulf of Mexico--so deep that they encounter a race of water-borne aliens.

As the economy slows, it is largely the American consumer who will decide whether a recession is at hand. If spending continues, the economy will almost certainly continue to grow. But consumer confidence varies around the country, reflecting local conditions. In the South and West, people are more upbeat; in New England and the mid-Atlantic region, the view is darker. Here is a look at what is shaping consumer attitudes in Pennsylvania and Texas.

Almost 2,000 members of the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Union struck Mobil Oil Corp. refineries Thursday in Southern California, Texas and Washington in a dispute centered on union representation in key refinery jobs. After contract talks broke down and union members walked off the job, supervisory and management personnel continued to operate the Mobil refineries in Torrance; Beaumont, Tex., and Ferndale, Wash.

A federal grand jury on Thursday indicted one of the nation's biggest oil pipeline companies for alleged air pollution crimes in Texas, focusing a spotlight on a major GOP donor and the environment in Gov. George W. Bush's state just weeks before the election. The indictment charges Koch Industries Inc., its subsidiary Koch Petroleum Group and four employees with 97 felonies for problems dating to 1995 with the cancer-linked pollutant benzene at a Corpus Christi plant.

As the economy slows, it is largely the American consumer who will decide whether a recession is at hand. If spending continues, the economy will almost certainly continue to grow. But consumer confidence varies around the country, reflecting local conditions. In the South and West, people are more upbeat; in New England and the mid-Atlantic region, the view is darker. Here is a look at what is shaping consumer attitudes in Pennsylvania and Texas.

Chevron Mulling Layoffs in Texas: Chevron Corp. is considering layoffs at its Port Arthur, Tex., refinery that could eliminate up to 1,600 jobs, union officials said. The Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers union said Chevron officials discussed two options for improving plant efficiency. One option could eliminate up to 1,600 of the plant's 1,950 jobs, they said. The union said layoffs would cripple the Port Arthur economy.

As hopes dimmed for a quick and peaceful settlement of the Middle East crisis, crude oil prices spurted higher Thursday, following some sharp declines earlier in the week. Wholesale gasoline and heating oil prices also rose. The price of light crude oil for October delivery rose 85 cents to close at $26.77 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The price of the benchmark grade of oil traded as high as $32.25 a barrel last week, tying a 1983 record.

Back in the 1950s, black soot and foul fumes poured into the air above Los Angeles as oil companies produced the gasoline that fueled Southern Californians' cars. Half a century and billions of dollars worth of smog controls later, the Los Angeles area's 14 oil refineries are among the most heavily regulated industries in America, slashing their air pollutants to a fraction of what they were.

Chevron Corp. plans to move its chemical division headquarters to Houston from San Ramon, Calif., eliminating about 300 jobs, an effort to save $76 million a year by 2001, the company said. The job cuts, about 6% of Chevron Chemicals' work force, will be complete by mid-2000, Chevron said. Most would come from managerial and support staff in Houston and San Ramon.

When Werner Sanz, general manager of Houston's Petroleum Club, launched its gigantic annual Fellowship Lunch last week, he served 300 fewer prime ribs, 300 fewer oyster souffles and several hundred fewer glasses of sparkling water than he did last year. To an experienced observer like Sanz, those figures say nearly as much about the mood among Texas oil executives as more common barometers such as the Baker Hughes Rig Count.

A joint venture involving Beverly Hills billionaire Marvin Davis' oil company and TransTexas Gas Corp. of Houston announced the discovery of a major natural gas field in Galveston Bay near Houston. Gas reserves at the Eagle Point field, about one mile offshore in shallow waters, were estimated by the companies at more than 1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas equivalents, making it one of the largest finds in recent years.

In its most extensive restructuring since 1985, Atlantic Richfield Co. said Monday that it will cut 900 to 1,000 jobs as it ends the hunt for oil in the Lower 48 states. The move--which parallels domestic belt-tightening by other oil companies--was announced along with a sharp drop in third-quarter earnings to $68 million, down from $332 million in the same quarter of 1992. Los Angeles-based Arco, the nation's seventh-largest oil company, will divide its Dallas-based Arco Oil & Gas Co.

Chevron Mulling Layoffs in Texas: Chevron Corp. is considering layoffs at its Port Arthur, Tex., refinery that could eliminate up to 1,600 jobs, union officials said. The Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers union said Chevron officials discussed two options for improving plant efficiency. One option could eliminate up to 1,600 of the plant's 1,950 jobs, they said. The union said layoffs would cripple the Port Arthur economy.

A suggestion that Texas may cut production and cooperate with OPEC to shore up oil prices raises serious antitrust questions and would not be in the country's best interests, oil analysts and Reagan Administration officials said Thursday. "You can imagine what the Reagan Administration thinks about it," said a State Department official who spoke only on condition of anonymity. interests."

In the Golden Triangle of southeastern Texas, where the piney woods give way to erector-set petrochemical complexes, help is definitely wanted. Mobil, Chevron and other big companies are on a building binge and good times are back in the oil patch. Half a continent away in Connecticut's Fairfax County, retailers in downtown Stamford are quizzical when asked about the recovery.

In the science-fiction movie "The Abyss," oil roughnecks of the future operate an undersea drilling rig deep beneath the waves of the Gulf of Mexico--so deep that they encounter a race of water-borne aliens.