Business & Finance

Texaco will sell its share of a gasoline-refining and marketing venture to its partners, Royal Dutch/Shell and Saudi Aramco, for $3.8 billion, the latter two announced. The deal comes as Texaco's proposed takeover by rival Chevron nears completion.

Burlington Resources Inc. was reported in "final negotiations" to acquire Canadian Hunter Exploration Ltd. for $2.1 billion. Both companies are leaders in exploring for and developing natural gas deposits. Neither was commenting for publication, but sources familiar with the situation said such a deal would give Houston-based Burlington 1.2 trillion cubic feet of Canadian Hunter's gas reserves and 6.2 million barrels of oil reserves. Canadian Hunter is based in Calgary, Alberta.

Credit Suisse First Boston, which was reported last week to be laying off 760 employees in its investment banking division, announced the number instead would be 2,000, as part of a plan to reduce operating costs by $1 billion next year. The Zurich, Switzerland-based group said it would report a loss of about $120 million in the third quarter.