Chevron aims at cost reductions of $1 billion

Chevron said it was enacting a hiring freeze at its corporate centers as part of an effort to slash costs by about $1 billion in the weakened market.

U.S. supermajor Chevron said it was laying off roughly 2 percent of its global workforce, with most of the cuts coming from its offices in Texas and California, where the company is based.

"In order to meet cost-reduction targets, there will be a reduction of approximately 1,500 employee positions across the 24 groups which comprise the corporate center," Chevron spokeswoman Melissa Ritchie said in an emailed statement. "Of these, approximately 270 are existing vacant positions which will not be filled."

Chevron follows its peers companies in enacting staff reductions in order to preserve capital in an era of sustained declines in crude oil prices. A surplus in supplies in a global economy still working to recover from the last fiscal crises has pushed crude oil prices down by about half from last year's levels.

When announcing second quarter figures last week, rig services company Weatherford International increased its target number for layoffs after revising downward its capital expenditure plans by 50 percent from last year.

"In light of the current market environment, Chevron is taking action to reduce internal costs in multiple operating units and the corporate center," Ritchie said. "Efforts in our corporate center are targeting cost reductions of approximately $1 billion."

Chevron releases its full quarterly report Friday. Ritchie offered no statement in response to questions regarding the issuance of the notice of staff reductions ahead of the report.