Phillips-Conoco merger means job cuts in Green Country

Sunday, November 18th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Two major Oklahoma companies become one, creating the third largest oil and gas company in the United States. News on Six reporter Heather Brooker looks at the impact of jobs in Green Country.

Phillips Petroleum merged with Conoco Sunday afternoon creating a $35-billion corporation. Officials say its something they've been talking about for a few years, but it just came together over the past couple of weeks.

Phillips Petroleum has its corporate offices and research center in Bartlesville that employ over 3,000 people. Conoco has a plant in Ponca City, which is the largest refinery in Oklahoma. The headquarters for the new company called Conoco-Phillips will be in Houston, Texas.

Phillips CEO Jim Mulva talked with KOTV Sunday about the merger and what impact it will have on the Green Country operations. "There will be work force reductions in Bartlesville. However we will maintain a significant presence in Bartlesville as well as all of Oklahoma. We have a transition team that's going to be working very quickly to determine how fast we can do this. But we will maintain a significant position in Bartlesville."

Jim Mulva didn't give us exact numbers for the number of jobs that would be cut in Bartlesville, only that within the merger there will be $750 million in savings, leaving lots of room for cutbacks in operation costs.