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Show Standard Oil Company of California announced Monday an agreement with Stauffer Chemical Company whereby Standard's subsidiary, Chevron U.S.A., Inc., will purchase Stauffer's phosphate and fertilizer holdings in Utah for $130 million. The purchase includes a phosphate producing property at Vernal, with an estimated 700 million tons of reserves and a present producing capacity of 500,000 tons annually of concentrated ore. Current output of the mine is committed under contracts running several more years. Also included in the transaction are fertilizer manufacturing facilities at Garfield, and phosphate handling facilities and a rail terminal at Phoston. The acquisiton will be integrated with other resource developments now being conducted in the Rocky Mountain area by Chevron, U.S.A. and two other Standard subsidiaries, Chevron Chemical Company and Chevron Resources Company. R.H. Matzke, Vice President and General Manager of Chevron Chemical's Ortho Fertilizer Division, said the acquisition will provide the company's fertilizer business with direct access to phsophates, one of the three prinicpal ingredients of fertilizers. fer-tilizers. "Chevron USA will be producing natural gas from the Carter Creek field in Wyoming," he explained. Sulfur extracted as a byproduct from the gas will be used to convert phosphate rock into phosphoric acid. "Plans for the development of the phosphate reserves are being formulated. for-mulated. There are a lot of options to consider. Some of them involve significant capital expenditures if the mine is to operate at the scale the ore reserves would allow," Metzke said. While the agreement was announced Monday, the actual transfer will not occur until the first quarter of 1981. No interruption in operation is anticipated because of the sale. Employees of Stauffer will be offered employment with Chevron. Jules F. Mayer, manager of government affairs for Chevron, was in Vernal Monday afternoon and made a formal statement to a small group of businessmen. He said 265 employees would be involved' in the purchase agreement, 85 in Vernal, 156 in Salt Lake City, 12 in San Francisco, and 12 in Phoston. All of the same people will be hired by Chevron and the operations will remain the same, assured Mr. Mayer. One of the largest byproducts in upgrading oil shale is nitrogen, Mayer pointed out. Nitrogen can be taken out in the form of ammonia and used with phosphate for fertilizer. A transportation corridor will be needed to bring Chevron's operation together. Whether to bring the rock to the sulfur and ammonia or take the sulfur and ammonia to the rock is the vital question. The Vernal phosphate plant will probably be enlarged down the road, depending on how the package is put together, Mayer said. Chevron has had an active role in the oil production in the local area. Rangely. Red Wash, Bluebell and Altamont oil fields have all been produced by Chevron. Chevron is also a major stockholder in American Gilsonite Company and its Bonanza mining operation. Chevron has a parallel crude oil pipeline from Rangely to Salt Lake City. |