Chevron Phillips Chemical Co., a 50-50 joint venture between Chevron Corp. and Phillips 66, has cut roughly 130 jobs in the latest in a round of reductions sweeping through the Texas oil and chemicals sector.
The cuts primarily involve corporate roles including information technology, supply-chain management and logistics rather than chemical plants, according to people familiar with the matter who requested anonymity discussing non-public information. Affected employees were informed in early August, just weeks after CPChem moved into a new 360,000 square-foot headquarters in the Houston suburb of The Woodlands.
“These changes reflect opportunities to outsource, centralize work, optimize leader spans of control and reduce organizational layers,” Chief Executive Officer Steve Prusak wrote in internal email to employees seen by Bloomberg News. “This is the first step to ensure our organizational structure aligns with industry realities and is prepared for what is ahead.”
Major energy companies are reducing headcount to curb costs as weak commodity prices and lackluster demand growth hurt profits, despite President Donald Trump’s vocal support for the sector. Prices for chemicals used to make plastics and other consumer products are under particular strain after giant new plants came online in China in recent years.
CPChem “is working to improve operational efficiency and manage costs as we position the company for long-term competitiveness,” the company said in a separate statement. The relocation of CPChem’s headquarters had been planned since 2023 and is “unrelated” to current economic conditions, it said.
Affected employees were notified by managers via video call on Aug. 1 after several months of working with consultants to assess what work could be transferred to vendors or overseas, the people said. The departing workers were offered severance and transition-support services, CPChem noted.
“These were difficult decisions, and we were committed to handling them with care and consideration,” the company said.
CPChem employs about 5,000 people, meaning the cuts make up about 2.6% of the company’s global workforce.
“The economic challenges in our industry remain significant,” Prusak wrote in the email to staff. “Although we have taken meaningful steps to control costs and modify our operations, more action is needed to stay competitive.”
Both CPChem’s parent companies are undergoing major efficiency drives. Chevron is reducing its global workforce 20%, or as many as 9,000 people, by 2026 and Phillips 66 is under pressure from activist investor Elliott Investment Management to sell assets and improve stock performance.
BP Plc and APA Corp. are among other energy companies with large Texas footprints that have announced job cuts in the past year while Chevron announced a further 575 reductions as a result of its takeover of Hess Corp.
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