Citgo Petroleum Corp. on Feb. 11 said it would cut less than 2 percent, or about 75, of its 3,762 employees, as part of a restructuring process driven by an effort to respond and adapt to the unprecedented economic crisis currently facing the United States.
Spokesman Fernando Garay told Lube Report that Citgo would not provide any further breakdown on the job cuts beyond the corporate-wide figure provided in its statement.
Citgo hereby categorically denies some news reports of alleged massive employee layoffs in the company, it said in the statement. Petrofinanzas, a Venezuelan news web site, had reported Feb. 11 that Citgo planned hundreds of firings, citing unidentified sources.
Houston-based Citgo is owned by PDV America, Inc., an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Petrleos de Venezuela, S.A., the national oil company of Venezuela.
Last year, Citgo ceased production at its Lake Charles, La., lubricants and waxes refinery and looked into selling the facility. The lube and waxes plant – which had 9,500 barrels per day of API Group I base oil capacity and about 2,000 b/d of wax capacity – had about 195 employees. Citgo retained Goldman Sachs as financial advisor in connection with the potential sale, but found no buyer.