Posted on 08/07/2002 12:56:45 PM PDT by Willie Green
For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.
TULSA, Okla. (AP) — Williams Cos. plans to cut more than 110 of its energy trading employees in Tulsa in coming weeks as part of a reduced commitment to the struggling business.
All 330 energy trading floor workers in Tulsa will receive 60-day notices warning them of the pending layoffs, but exactly how many will lose their jobs has not yet been decided, the company said Tuesday.
Federal law requires 60-day notice when more than a third of workers or at least 50 employees at a given site are affected, spokeswoman Paula Hall-Collins said.
The cuts also will affect an undisclosed number of the division's 270 support workers in Tulsa and some of the 70 energy traders in London and 25 in Houston, said Hall-Collins. The cuts to the small Houston staff will not meet either federal law threshold and notice regulations are different in Britain, she said.
Williams has been aggressively selling assets and cutting spending to reduce its roughly $15 billion debt.
The asset sales could remove as many as 4,000 jobs from the company payroll, with some being cut and others transferring with the assets, Williams recently told employees. The Tulsa-based energy company employs 12,000 people worldwide, including 3,000 in Tulsa.
Williams cut about 125 jobs from the trading unit in June when it announced it was slashing its capital commitment to the once-profitable business by a third, from $1.5 billion annually to $1 billion.
Energy marketing and trading accounted for half of the company's operating income in 2000 and 2001. But the unit lost $497 million in the second quarter as Enron Corp.'s collapse, federal inquiries into trading practices and Williams' credit problems combined to depress the business.
The company is negotiating with two or three companies as possible partners for the energy trading division. But if a joint venture can't be formed, Williams may sell all or part of the unit, the company says.
The company has sold about 15 percent of its assets since December, and more assets are on the block, the company says. Last week, Williams obtained $3.4 billion in net cash and credit through asset sales and collateralized loans.
In midday trading Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange, Williams shares were down 2 cents at $2.54.
If you use natural gas at your house, there's a good chance that Williams gets it to you with their hard physical assets (pipelines and natural gas fields).
It's really a shame that the media driven panic and paranoia has damaged such companies as this one.
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