40% of Exxon Staff to Be Cut in Thousand Oaks

About 40% of the 225 employees at Exxon Co. U.S.A.’s Thousand Oaks headquarters will be laid off, retired or transferred elsewhere.

Some of the 90 workers scheduled to leave Exxon’s Western Production Division will be offered jobs with the company’s Southwestern Production Division in Midland, Tex., Exxon spokeswoman Connie Clay said. She said the Texas unit will assume responsibility for onshore operations formerly controlled from Thousand Oaks.

“We don’t know how many people will be transferred,” Clay said. “Much of that depends on how many choose to take early retirement.” Engineers, geologists and office workers are among those who will be affected by the cutbacks, she added.

The Thousand Oaks office will retain responsibility for Exxon’s offshore oil and gas production in the Santa Barbara Channel, and offshore workers will not be affected by the cutbacks, Clay said. Exxon is building two new offshore platforms to augment one already in production in the channel.

Exxon Co. U.S.A., the domestic oil and gas unit of Exxon Corp., will eliminate 1,000 jobs nationwide by Aug. 1. The cuts are designed “to make the company more effective in a demanding business environment,” the company said.

Clay said she did not know whether Exxon will continue to occupy the building it owns on Hillcrest Drive.