Atlantic Richfield Co. (ARCO) told employees it will lay offworkers and cut its operating budget in anticipation of continuedlow oil prices. No details on the number of job cuts or where theywould be made were available. A company spokesman told NGI ARCOshould have a plan in place by mid to late October. ARCO has about20,000 employees, all but about 3,500 of them in the United States.

“The chairman does say in the letter [to employees] ‘It is clearthat we must take action to ensure that ARCO remains a strong andsuccessful independent company,” the spokesman said. He noted oilprices are at a 12-year-low. “These conditions could be with us forthe next few years.”

In CEO and Chairman Mike Bowlin’s letter to employees, he saysthe company needs to cut back to compete against the likes ofBritish Petroleum, which recently acquired Amoco.

©Copyright 1998 Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. Thepreceding news report may not be republished or redistributed, inwhole or in part, in any form, without prior written consent ofIntelligence Press,Inc.