Unocal to Cut Washington, Oregon Outlets

Unocal Corp. announced Tuesday that it will reduce the number of its retail and bulk sale fuel stations in Oregon and Washington by more than half in an effort to improve profitability.

“The restructuring plan will take up to three years to fully implement and will result in the closure of marginally profitable service stations and bulk plants in certain Pacific Northwest markets,” Clay Warnock, Unocal’s Western regional marketing vice president, said in a statement.

The move is part of an industrywide cutback of marginal retail operations that has seen both Atlantic Richfield Co. and Chevron Corp. pull out of unprofitable regions of the country, said M. Craig Schwerdt, an analyst with Seidler Amdec Securities Inc. in Los Angeles.

Closures Next Year

Unocal now has 136 service stations and 32 bulk plants in Washington and 97 service stations and 36 bulk plants in Oregon. About 70% of them are on property owned by Unocal.

The company said it will announce within 30 to 60 days which stations will be closed and that it will close them by the middle of next year. The exact number of stations to be closed will depend on market conditions, Unocal said.

Generally, the company said it will withdraw completely from central and eastern Washington and from eastern Oregon. In other areas of Washington and Oregon, the company said, it will evaluate operations over the next three years as individual leases expire.

Dealers will be offered the chance to buy their stations before the facilities are offered to others, Unocal spokesman Barry Lane said.

Unocal said it will concentrate its marketing along interstate highways and other main roads, as well as in selected metropolitan areas.