Unocal Corp

Los Angeles-based Unocal Corp. reported first-quarter earnings of $74 million, or 27 cents a share, Wednesday, contrasted with a loss of $214 million, or 92 cents a share, for the same period a year ago. Excluding the effect of special adjustments, Unocal's earnings for the quarter were $54 million, compared to $71 million the year before. Revenue for the three months ended March 31 totaled $1.96 billion, compared to $1.92 billion in the first quarter of 1994. Roger C.

Chevron Corp. agreed to pay $48 million to settle class-action lawsuits by California consumers over claims that Unocal Corp., which Chevron acquired in 2005, misled regulators about pending patents it held on technology for making cleaner-burning gasoline. The Federal Trade Commission sued Unocal in 2003, alleging that it misled California regulators after the state adopted clean-air standards.

In January, an earnest woman named Kim Cooper was driving through Lincoln Heights when her neighborhood gas station caught her eye. The station's familiar 76 insignia, its stocky blue numbers splashed against a sea of orange, had been supplanted with a sign that looked like, well, everywhere else. The new 76 was set against a backdrop of red, and a boring red at that -- "a queasy color," she recalled with a grimace, "like liver."

Unocal Cuts 85 Headquarters Jobs: Unocal Corp. eliminated 85 jobs at its headquarters in a restructuring expected to save $20 million a year. The belt-tightening among the 920-employee Los Angeles staff followed three months of study, Chairman Richard J. Stegemeier said. Last summer, it said it would lay off 100 of 780 employees at its research facility in Brea.

Unocal to Farm Out Credit Card Work: In a move to reduce the cost of handling its credit cards, Unocal Corp. said it will shut down its 200-employee service center in San Francisco by the second quarter of 1994. First Data Resources, a unit of First Data Corp., will provide the services from a Tulsa, Okla., facility. Some employees may be offered jobs in other Unocal operations or with the Tulsa company, Unocal said.

Chevron Corp. said Executive Vice President Charles R. Williamson, the former chairman and chief executive of recently acquired Unocal Corp., was retiring, effective Dec. 1. Williamson joined Union Oil Co. of California as a research scientist in 1977. He worked for the company in various capacities, climbing to the chief executive post in 2001. Williamson had said before that he would remain with Chevron for a few months to assist with the transition.

Even the tchotchkes of Unocal are being sold off. The storied oil company was sold last week to Chevron Corp. in an $18-billion deal after rival bidder CNOOC Ltd. of China backed out. But in July, when it was apparent that El Segundo-based Unocal Corp. would disappear, employees started collecting memorabilia, keepsakes and artwork that had been stuffed in closets or hung on the walls of offices soon to be vacated.

One of California's oldest and most storied oil companies officially disappeared Wednesday as Unocal Corp. shareholders approved a buyout offer from Chevron Corp. The $18-billion deal became final after owners of more than 77% of Unocal's shares voted for Chevron's offer, which seemed destined to prevail after rival bidder CNOOC Ltd. of China backed out last week amid intense congressional resistance. About 2.

After months of haggling and international intrigue, Unocal Corp. shareholders will finally meet today to approve a takeover by Chevron Corp. The vote will mark the end of Unocal as an independent company and a rebuffing of Chinese attempts to secure much-needed energy resources by buying an American oil company. Few doubt Chevron will win approval after rival Chinese bidder CNOOC Ltd. pulled out of the takeover battle citing intense political opposition.

Chevron Corp.'s bid to buy Unocal Corp. won endorsements from two more shareholder advisory companies Wednesday, a day after China's CNOOC Ltd. withdrew its higher offer for the El Segundo oil company. The reports from Glass Lewis & Co. and Proxy Governance Inc., which come a week before Unocal shareholders vote on the Chevron deal, conclude that Chevron was offering a fair price for Unocal. On Monday, the deal won the backing of Institutional Shareholder Services.

CNOOC Ltd.'s withdrawal Tuesday from the bidding for Unocal Corp. lifts the pall of uncertainty that had hung over the California oil company's worldwide workforce for months, leaving workers distracted, anxious and ripe for poaching by headhunters and rivals.

Unocal Corp. said five rival oil companies must pay it about $91 million after a federal appeals court in Los Angeles upheld its patent on a cleaner-burning form of gasoline used in California. The companies are Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp., Texaco Inc., Shell Oil Co. and Atlantic Richfield Co. A federal jury in Los Angeles found in late 1997 that the defendants had infringed Unocal's patent for reformulated gasoline. Unocal was awarded damages amounting to about $69 million.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has fined Unocal Corp. $80,000 for expanding its refineries in Wilmington and Carson in 1993 without proper environmental impact reports. The fine is similar to a $443,000 fine Chevron USA paid last year for expanding its refinery in El Segundo without air quality permits or an approved environmental review, EPA spokesman Bill Glenn said Monday.

The Chinese oil company battling to buy Unocal Corp. abandoned its effort Tuesday because of what it termed "regrettable and unjustified" U.S. political opposition, ending a showdown that spotlighted American concerns about energy security. The decision by CNOOC Ltd., largely owned by the Chinese government, to drop its $18.5-billion bid for Unocal clears the way for Chevron Corp. to acquire the El Segundo-based company in a deal currently valued at $17.5 billion.