Chevron plans to lay off approximately 575 Houston-based employees on September 26, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) filed with the Texas Workforce Commission on Wednesday, the Houston Chronicle reported.
The affected employees are all from the legacy Hess Corporation workforce, following Chevron’s recent US$53 billion acquisition of the company.
“We are working quickly to integrate the Hess workforce and are focused on maintaining safe and reliable operations throughout the transition period…these are difficult decisions which we do not make lightly,” a Chevron spokesperson reportedly told the Chronicle.
Impacted workers will be offered severance benefits and outplacement support, the company said.
The layoffs come as Chevron continues a broader global restructuring. The oil major said in February it would reduce its global headcount by up to 20%. It began implementing some of those cuts this month in West Texas, affecting around 200 workers at three facilities in Midland County, according to the Texas Workforce Commission.
The announcement follows Chevron’s arbitration victory over ExxonMobil, which cleared the final legal hurdle to acquiring Hess and its 30% stake in Guyana’s Stabroek Block, one of the world’s most lucrative offshore oil discoveries in the last decade.
ExxonMobil acknowledged the ruling by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), which dismissed its and partner CNOOC’s claim to preemptively purchase Hess’ interest in the block.
“We welcome Chevron to the venture and look forward to continued industry-leading performance and value creation in Guyana for all parties involved,” Exxon said.
The deal grants Chevron a stake in a partnership that has discovered over 11 billion barrels of oil and gas in Guyana since 2015 and recorded a combined US$10.4 billion profit last year, US$3.1 billion of which went to Hess. Operations in the Exxon-led Stabroek Block are not expected to be affected.
