Shell weighs staff cuts at U.S. refineries

By Erwin Seba

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Shell Oil said on Thursday it was considering staff cuts at its refineries and chemical plants on the U.S. Gulf Coast to reduce costs in the current recession.

Among the plants where reductions are being considered are the refineries Shell operates jointly with Saudi Aramco through Motiva Enterprises and a Deer Park, Texas, refinery operated jointly with Mexican state oil company Pemex, said spokeswoman Anne Peebles.

"It's going to be different at every site," Peebles said. "We're going to do this on a site by site basis."

Shell has no plans to sell any of its refineries and chemical plants, contrary to rumours circulating in the communities where they are based, she said.

Shell Oil's corporate parent Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) has previously said thousands of staff could be eliminated worldwide to cut costs, but the reduction plans discussed so far have focussed on global upstream operations, which were reorganized earlier this year, and corporate headquarters in the Hague, Netherlands.

In January, Motiva pushed back by two years the completion date for a planned 325,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) expansion at the 285,000 bpd Port Arthur, Texas, refinery to 2012.

Last week, Shell said it may close or sell its Montreal East refinery in Canada.

The total number of positions that may be eliminated has not been determined. The reductions could include salaried, hourly and contract workers, Peebles said.