Chevron said on March 9 it would downsize its global refining and marketing activities to compete in “difficult” market conditions, cutting 2,000 jobs this year.

At a meeting with financial analysts in New York, Mike Wirth, executive vice president of Chevron’s Global Downstream, said downstream market conditions were “likely to be difficult for the next several years.”

Chevron will eliminate jobs in 2010 and 2011, including about 2,000 this year, and take 2010 first-quarter severance charges estimated at $150-200 million, he said.

The company also plans to sell some European activities, including the Pembroke refinery in Wales in Britain, and activities in Caribbean and some Central American markets.

Chevron will review operations in Hawaii and Africa, outside of South Africa, as it moves to further concentrate its downstream activities in North America and Asia-Pacific.

The company currently employs about 62,000 people, not including 5,000 who work in gasoline service stations.

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