Chevron refinery put up for sale
Chevron has announced it is looking for a buyer for its Pembroke refinery
in west Wales. The operation, which is Chevron's only refinery in Europe, employs about 1,400 staff – including 600 staff and 80 contractors and is capable of processing 220,000 barrels of crude oil a day.
The US oil giant revealed it would be "soliciting bids for certain operations in Europe", including the Pembroke refinery.
The move came as part of a wider restructure that the company revealed would lead to around 2,000 job cuts worldwide by the end of 2011.
Mike Wirth, executive vice president, Chevon Global Downstream, said: "Downstream market conditions are likely to be difficult for the next several years. We intend to further concentrate our downstream portfolio in North America and Asia-Pacific. These are markets in which we have our greatest competitive strength. We are also rapidly and aggressively lowering costs, reducing capital spending, improving efficiency and simplifying our organization."
In a statement, Wirth went on to outline plans to improve returns and further streamline Chevron's downstream portfolio and organization. The activities include soliciting bids for certain operations in Europe (including the Pembroke refinery), the Caribbean and select Central America markets; reviewing operations in Hawaii and Africa, outside of South Africa; and further reducing the downstream workforce.
A spokeswoman for Chevron in the UK said the "highest impact" of the job losses would be in the US, Africa and Asia Pacific regions.