Recording

Equitable Resources Inc. is recording a total of $120 million inrestructuring-related charges, the company said Tuesday, in acontinuing effort started by company CEO Murry Gerber to focus oncore capabilities. Half of the charges will be accumulated becauseof severance, staff reductions and extinguishment of debt.Equitable expects a 20% employee reduction compared to mid-1998staff levels. The other half of the charge is a result of thedevaluation and consequent write-down of selected Gulf region gasand oil properties due to low commodity prices. Overall, Equitableexpects the measures to reduce annual expenses by $20 million in1999.