Chevron to Sell More U.S. Oil Fields, Causing Layoffs : * Energy: It doesn't know how many jobs will be lost as it shrinks from 1,000 domestic properties to 400.

Chevron to Sell More U.S. Oil Fields, Causing Layoffs : * Energy: It doesn’t know how many jobs will be lost as it shrinks from 1,000 domestic properties to 400.

By MICHAEL PARRISH

Feb. 14, 1992 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

In a speedup of its cost-cutting plan, Chevron Corp. has told employees that it will sell 600 more U.S. oil fields than previously announced.

Ray Galvin, president of Chevron Production Co., also made clear in an internal newsletter dated Tuesday that the sales will cause involuntary layoffs in production operations.

Previously, the goal was to go down to 1,000 fields from 1,800 and to reduce personnel through early retirement packages and other voluntary severance programs.

Chevron has already shed the 800 fields. In March, it will offer early retirement to 3,000 employees, expecting a third to accept the offer.

But in meetings at the end of January, executives decided to cut 600 additional fields--and to try to do so by the end of 1992.

“At this point we don’t expect any voluntary programs will eliminate all of the individuals involved,” said Bonnie F. Chaikind, a spokeswoman for the San Francisco-based firm. “So we expect there would be a sizable non-voluntary severance program for exempt and non-exempt employees.”

Chaikind said the company is still assessing how many layoffs might result.

“But when you sell 20% of your production and two-thirds of your producing fields, you can expect a significant manpower surplus,” noted John T. Cameron, vice president of Chevron’s Western Production Business Unit in Bakersfield.

Cameron said the company has not discussed the layoffs with the International Union of Petroleum and Industrial Workers, which represents more than 1,000 Chevron production workers in California.

Don Harris, the Bakersfield-based union representative who bargains with Chevron, said he had heard about possible layoffs, but expected “very little effect in California.” About 80 California oil workers will be eligible for early retirement.

“I’m trying to look at a rosier side of it, to save as many positions as possible,” Harris said. “So far we haven’t lost one position in the downsizing. . . . But when push comes to shove, unions and companies are almost mandated to work together to save jobs.”

The expected cuts are the latest in a companywide restructuring in recent years at the nation’s third-largest oil firm.