Chevron said on Thursday it planned to fire up to 1,100 refining, marketing and transportation employees after reporting an 84 per cent drop in its quarterly refining profit.

The second-biggest US oil company said in a regulatory filing on Thursday that about 300 workers, mostly outside the US, were notified of their terminations in the first quarter. The remainder of the lay-offs will take place this year, though the entire process will not be complete until 2009.