Layoffs Coming at Exxon

Petroleum giant Exxon Corp., the world’s biggest company, today announced it will restructure oil and gas operations outside North America and eliminate some central offices because of what Chairman Clifton C. Garvin Jr. called severe competition and the depressed energy market.

The announcement came less than a week after Exxon said it would cut 1986 capital and exploration spending by 26% from a year ago. A statement from Exxon’s New York headquarters did not specify how many people would be affected or how much money would be saved, but said the changes will be completed by this fall.