CRISIS IN THE PERSIAN GULF : U.S. Firms Take Steps to Protect Their Employees in Saudi Arabia

The possible outbreak of hostilities prompted many American companies to make hasty contingency plans for evacuating U.S. employees and dependents from Saudi Arabia, and a number of firms began bringing employees’ family members back Wednesday.

The action followed a State Department travel advisory issued late Tuesday night, which said the department was allowing dependents of U.S. government personnel on a voluntary basis to leave the Eastern part of Saudi Arabia, as well as the countries of Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. The advisory also recommended that private American citizens consider leaving as well.

San Francisco-based Bechtel, an international engineering and construction firm, said Wednesday that it was offering flights from the country to employees working on non-essential projects and their families. Bechtel declined to disclose the number of employees eligible, but about 900 staff and family members live and work in Saudi Arabia, a spokesman said. The company will continue to staff normal operations in the country, he said. However, most of the dozens of companies contacted Wednesday said they didn’t have immediate plans to bring employees back. Companies said they were monitoring events closely.

“Every hour is a different situation,” said Herb Ryan, a spokesman for Dresser Industries in Dallas, which has employees in Saudi Arabia working in oil and gas exploration. “If they start shooting you have a whole different ballgame.”

Mobil Corp., which has extensive interests in Saudi Arabia as well as 220 employees and 144 employees’ dependents, said the dependents were being evacuated. A Mobil spokesman in New York said they would be brought to Western Europe on regularly scheduled flights as well as special charters. However, Mobil said that unless the situation deteriorates further employees will remain.

Other companies that began flying out dependents included Hughes Aircraft Co. and the big engineering concern Fluor Corp. in Irvine.

Chevron Corp. of San Francisco said it had advised about 80 dependents of employees--who are on loan to the Saudi oil company, Saudi Aramco--that Chevron is ready to evacuate them.

Ray Silvius, a spokesman for Hughes in Los Angeles, said his company has fewer than a dozen employees in Saudi Arabia, who advise the Saudi military. Family members were being urged to leave because “what you don’t want to do is take chances.”

A number of companies also said they were leaving it up to employees and family members to decide whether to leave Saudi Arabia. Texaco, which has about 50 employees on loan to Saudi Aramco, said it was helping to make travel arrangements for dependents wishing to leave. A Texaco spokesman said that although employees weren’t being ordered out of the country, “They have been told that if they desire, they are free to leave.” Dresser, too, said it left the decision up to employees.

Ryan said Dresser employees had been notified that “if they think their safety is at risk they are to exit as fast as they can by the best means they can.”

The Associated Press reported that airports in Saudi Arabia appeared crowded with foreigners attempting to leave the country.

Many American companies interviewed Wednesday cited concerns for the safety of their employees and refused to provide details of the number working in Saudi Arabia and neighboring countries or contingency plans to evacuate them.

Boeing Co., involved with a consortium of companies in maintaining the Saudi “Peace Shield” AWACS early warning aircraft fleet, said employees and family members based in Saudi Arabia but who were out of the country were advised not to return. However, a Boeing spokesman in Seattle refused to say if an evacuation is contemplated.

Other American firms with significant numbers of employees in Saudi Arabia but which declined to discuss contingency plans Wednesday included Procter & Gamble, General Electric, Westinghouse Electric and Halliburton.

A General Electric spokesman said, “We are working closely with the State Department to assure security, but to avoid compromising the safety of our employees we are not commenting further.”

Guy Marcus, a spokesman for Halliburton, an oil services company based in Dallas, stressed that his company isn’t contemplating a withdrawal from Saudi Arabia. “We’re not closing down operations,” he said.

A State Department official said the number of U.S. citizens in Saudi Arabia is about 24,000, not counting military personnel sent in over the past few days. Of the 24,000, about 650 are U.S. government personnel and family members.

Unlike in Iraq and Kuwait, U.S. companies have heavy investments in Saudi Arabia, and assets as well as employees may be threatened if war erupts. Most U.S. assets in the country are in the form of joint ventures with Saudi partners, in which U.S. companies own 50% or less. A large portion of U.S. investment in Saudi Arabia is in processing plants and equipment related to petroleum and petrochemicals.

Mobil, for example, has a 50% interest in a recently completed refinery, as well as a petrochemical plant and a plant that blends motor lubricants. The refinery, Yanbu Refinery on the Red Sea, north of Jidda, processes 125,000 barrels of oil per day.

A Commerce Department spokeswoman said that at the end of 1989, the total value of U.S. direct investment in Saudi Arabia was $1.81 billion.

Saudi Arabia has also been an important destination for U.S. exports. Commerce Department figures show that the United States has been Saudi Arabia’s biggest supplier of imports, with U.S. companies sending considerable quantities of agricultural equipment, as well as air conditioning and refrigeration machinery.

Scot J. Paltrow reported from New York; Mike Krensavage reported from Los Angeles.