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EVANS — The merger of PDC Energy Inc. into Chevron USA Inc. will result in about a third of the employees at the Evans facility at 4000 Burlington Ave. losing their jobs.

Chevron gave notice to the state Department of Labor and Employment Friday that it would lay off about a third of the workers at Evans and about a third of the workers at the company’s facility at 1099 18th St. in Denver.

Exact numbers of workers to be terminated was not clear Friday. CDLE said it had requested information from the company of the total number of workers at those two locations so it could calculate the maximum potential impact. 

“Since the layoffs are related to an acquisition, they (employees) will be involved in a selection process and will continue to work for Chevron if selected. It is hard for us and for them to know at this point how many will be left without jobs at the end of the process,” Karen Hoopes, WARN coordinator for the labor department, said in an email response to a BizWest question. WARN is an acronym for Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act.

In early August, Chevron completed its acquisition of PDC, one of the largest players in the Denver Julesburg Basin. The assets acquired include 275,000 net acres in the basin adjacent to Chevron’s operations; the $7.6 billion deal added more than a billion barrels of oil to the company’s reserves. 

In its notice to the state, Chevron said it had met with employees Thursday and sent written notices Friday. Layoffs are expected to be permanent, and employees will not have bumping rights, although there may be some opportunity for affected workers to interview for other vacancies.

Layoffs will begin Oct. 31, according to the letter sent to the state by Kimberly McHugh, vice president of the Rockies Business Unit for Chevron.

Source: BizWest