ChevronTexaco Corp., the nation's second largest oil company, is buying smaller rival Unocal Corp. for about $16.4 billion, hoping to further elevate its recently soaring profits by tapping into another vein of oil and natural gas.
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ChevronTexaco earned $13.3 billion last year, the most profitable year since its inception in 1879.
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An extensive round of cost cutting also is expected to lift profits.
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Those projections make mass layoffs likely...
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