Williams Cos. employees used to “living on Tulsa time” may have to reset their watches in the next few weeks, after an internal company memo announced that the Oklahoma-based company will slash its workforce payroll up to one-third, slicing about 4,000 positions through asset sales, retirement and layoffs. Most of the affected employees will no longer be Williams employees when the asset sales are completed, but the cuts will be deeply felt in the already wounded energy trading unit in Tulsa, where at least 100 will get a final paycheck in the next few days, and up to 330 in the next two months. London is expected to trim up to 70 European traders, while Houston could lose up to 25.

Asset sales already slated or expected will take as many as 4,000 jobs off the company payroll, with some being cut and others transferring with the assets, Williams management said in the memo. Overall, Williams employs 12,000 worldwide, with the largest workforce in Tulsa, where 3,000 are employed.

Williams had already trimmed 135 energy trading-related jobs in June, also cutting its capital budget by one-third, to $1 billion from $1.5 billion (see Daily GPI, June 24). Then last month, Bill Hobbs, CEO of the energy trading unit, said the unit could be further reduced if the energy merchant sector did not fare better (see Daily GPI, July 19). Williams’ energy trading unit had around 800 employees worldwide at the beginning of the year.

All of its Tulsa trading floor employees, now numbering around 330, have received a federally required 60-day notice warning them of pending layoffs, but whether they will be let go or not remains unknown. Federal law required the 60-day notice because more than one-third of the employees (or at least 50 at a given site) are affected, said a spokeswoman. Other layoffs in Tulsa will be among 270 support workers there. Hobbs said in July that the company continues to look for a partner for its trading division, and if a joint venture cannot be completed, the company could sell all or part of the unit.

Since December, Williams has sold off about 15% of its assets, and more sales are planned to reduce its estimated $15 billion debt. Last week, the company announced it would sell about $1.4 billion of its properties, including interests in two pipeline companies, natural gas properties in Wyoming and the Anadarko Basin, and the Cove Point, MD, liquefied natural gas facility. Williams also secured a $2 billion loan using its Barrett Resources oil and gas subsidiary, and if it defaults, Berkshire Hathaway Inc., controlled by Warren Buffett, would benefit (see Daily GPI, Aug. 2).

While the energy marketing and trading unit totaled about half of Williams’ operating income in 2000 and 2001, it turned around and lost almost $500 million in the second quarter. Williams’ share price plunged to below $1 in July, and Wednesday the stock closed at $2.65, gaining 8 cents from Tuesday.

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