Unocal tests Ranggas oil well

Unocal tests Ranggas oil well

SINGAPORE: Unocal Corp said it had taken another step towards
development of the deepwater Ranggas oilfield offshore Indonesia
with the successful appraisal testing of a fourth well.

The El Segundo, California-based company said subsidiary
Unocal Rapak Ltd. had tested the Ranggas-4 appraisal well at a
daily rate of 8,158 barrels of oil and 6.4 million cubic feet
(181,200 cu metres) of gas.

The well was located 2.4 miles (3.8 kilometers) north of the
Ranggas-1 discovery well and 1.2 miles (1.931 km) south of the
Ranggas-3 appraisal well, it said in a statement dated Monday.

Unocal said test rates were constrained by test equipment, but
initial daily production rates from a well producing from the
zone was estimated at upwards of 10,000 barrels of oil and eight
million cubic feet (226,500 cu metres) of gas.

"The oil test rates are impressive, and we are very encouraged
at this point in our appraisal program," Brian Marcotte,
president of Unocal Indonesia Co said in the statement. --
Reuters

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MoneyMatter-USA-ArthurAndersen
Arthur Andersen cuts 7,000 US jobs
2

Arthur Andersen cuts 7,000 US jobs

CHICAGO: Troubled US accountancy Arthur Andersen, weakened by
the scandal over collapsed energy group Enron, said Monday it
would axe 7,000 jobs out of its 26,000-strong US workforce.

The process of whittling down staff numbers could take several
months, the company said. The axe would fall most heavily in the
areas of audit practice and administrative services.

"Despite the firm's constant efforts to avoid any workforce
reduction, cutbacks are one of many consequences of the events of
the last month," the company statement said.

Andersen is up to its neck in legal trouble after being
accused of using questionable accounting practices to hide losses
at Enron in order to retain lucrative consulting contracts with
its Houston-based client. -- AFP

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Bizbrief-Hongkong-JPMorgan
JP Morgan to cut 80 staff in Asia Pacific
3

JP Morgan to cut 80 staff in Asia Pacific

HONG KONG: J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. plans to lay off about 80
staff in its investment banking and brokerage departments in the
Asia-Pacific region, as the U.S. investment bank seeks to cut
costs in response to a slowdown in its advisory and capital-
raising businesses, sources in the bank said late Tuesday.

The move comes on the heels of layoffs by rivals Credit Suisse
First Boston and Goldman Sachs in Asia last week, as the downturn
in the investment banking industry bites into cash flows.

About 50 to 60 employees from J.P. Morgan's Hong Kong offices
will lose their jobs, said a J.P. Morgan banker. The bank Monday
laid off seven staff in China, he said.

The U.S. investment bank originally planned to make the
layoffs Monday but decided to postpone it to next week due to
leakage to the media, the banker said. -- Dow Jones

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Bizbrief-USA-Levi's
Levi Strauss to close plants
4

Levi Strauss to close plants

SAN FRANCISCO: Levi Strauss & Co., a name synonymous with blue
jeans, said on Monday it will shut six of its last eight U.S.
plants and slash its staff by 20 percent as it moves away from
manufacturing to try to halt five years of declining sales.

The nearly 150-year-old company, long a rugged symbol of the
American West, said plants located in Blue Ridge, Georgia, and
San Francisco, California, would close by the end of June. Plants
in Brownsville and San Benito, Texas, would close in August, and
plants in Powell, Tennessee, and El Paso, Texas, would close in
October.

About 3,300 employees out of a current worldwide work force of
some 16,600 would lose their jobs as a result of the closures.

A company spokeswoman said Levi Strauss will contract the jobs
out to plants around the world. Currently, the company outsources
manufacturing to more than 50 countries in the world, including
Mexico, the Dominican Republic, the Philippines and Indonesia. --
Reuters