Thread regarding Chevron Corp. layoffs

Major changes at the 11th hour of any project usually results in major clusters, delays, and incidents. So, let's take a company whose future is completely leveraged against a handful of very large projects scattered around the world, and start making major changes, mostly by slashing staff and capital budgets. What could possibly go wrong? Well, for starters, there won't be enough experience to oversee the constant carryover work, especially the embarrassing amount of work that is being sent offshore. Unfortunately, every HES manager in the company is already guilty of underreporting/not reporting incidents. Numerous spills, fires, injuries, and even the deaths of two contractors on the job that I am aware of have occurred, never to see the light of day on an incident investigation report, much less make it into any BUs HES metrics. It's a simple truth. When both the base and the top of the HES pyramid keep growing and the middle is shrinking, there is only one explanation: underreporting and hiding the truth. Of course, life is pretty cheap in some countries, and nobody really worries too much about a few disposable Bangladeshis, Chinese, Indonesians, Brazilians, Nigerians, Angolans, or Thais. There's plenty more of them to go around. For that matter, nobody worries about a few hundred barrels spilled into some third world river, either. CNN's helicopters never go to those places. No, my friends, none of that will ever matter to anyone, except to the local tribal chief/agent/inspector/boss/thug/government "inspector"/insert_title_here who will get paid. Oh, you thought Chevron actually follows the FCPA? Oh, no, the loopholes over, under, around, and through that law are numerous, large enough to drive a truck through, and simple enough that even the average Chevron MD or Country Manager can figure them out (remember to put the envelope UNDER the plate at the state dinner, Geoff!). No, none of these minor brush fires (no pun intended) will ever be heard of in the corner office in San Ramon. What will, however, break the company's back, will be Chevron's Macondo. And it is coming. When and where will it happen? Take your pick. There are so many large MCPs that are so overdue and so well over budget right now that management is becoming desperate. They are taking shortcuts, and they are getting sloppy. At this point, there are Project Managers in the Chevron world who would kill their own mothers and eat their own young if it meant delivering their project to operations tomorrow morning. Unfortunately, unlike BP in 2010, Chevron doesn't have the benefit of high oil prices right now to help prop things up when it all goes pear shaped. For a company that is currently operating at a net loss in several BUs, what do you think a 40 or 50 billion dollar "uh-oh" would do to it right now? Might want to think about divesting that CVX stock soon, before it becomes vapor. To paraphrase a favorite Chevron management quote from recent years, the possibility is no longer a matter of "thinking it will happen", it has now become "knowing it will happen".