Continuing to work through the monstrous merger completed amonth ago, BP Amoco centralized its power last week by choosing theWestlake complex in Houston as its exploration and productionheadquarters, then revealing a 1,400 person job cut at the complex.Company officials said the jobs were lost due to duplication andcommodity price reasons. Overall, BP Amoco plans to lay off 1,600workers in Texas by the end of the first quarter.

“We knew the merger would mean job losses due to eliminatingduplication, but this has been exacerbated by the external climate.We will now be doing everything we can to help those who areleaving to transition to a new future,” said Scott Urban, a BPAmoco spokesman.

Urban said the company would start notifying people immediately.Depending on their status, employees can take early retirement orreceive a severance package with up to 71.5 weeks of salary.

The company’s Clear Lake engineering and construction officewill close, sending 380 of the 500 workers to other locations,while the others will be let go. Most of BP Amoco’s other Texasoperations will remain, for the most part, untouched.

Operations now residing in New Orleans, Tulsa, and Denver willbe relocated and directed from Houston. The headquarters willoversee eight upstream business units.Seven units will overseeexploration and production in eight states and the Gulf of Mexico;the other will manage the company’s global power generationbusiness.

“When the reorganization is complete. we believe we will have avery competitive operation in Texas and the Houston Gulf Coast. Theregion will remain one of BP Amoco’s biggest population centers inthe world, and BP Amoco will remain one of the largest oil and gasproducers in the state,” Urban said.

A BP Amoco spokesperson said other units of the new company willalso be making decisions regarding employment by the end of thefirst quarter.

John Norris

©Copyright 1999 Intelligence Press, Inc. All rightsreserved. The preceding news report may not be republished orredistributed in whole or in part without prior written consent ofIntelligence Press, Inc.